Tearing down trade barriers and reaping tangible benefits is the best way to fight forces slapping \u201cunprecedented pressure\u201d on the global economy, the trade chiefs of Australia and France have declared as they vow to boost two-way trade and investment.<\/p>\n
Trade Minister Don Farrell on Wednesday hosted his French counterpart Nicolas Forissier in South Australia\u2019s Clare Valley for high level talks aimed at deepening trade and investment ties beyond the boons of the freshly agreed Australia-EU free trade deal.<\/p>\n
Two-way trade with France, the second-biggest economy in the EU, was worth $14.4bn in 2024 while two-way investment hit north of $170bn.<\/p>\n
Opening the talks, Senator Farrell said free-trade agreements were \u201cjust words on a paper\u201d without concrete results.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we have to do, I think, as trade ministers is convert those words to actual practical results, so that French farmers, manufacturers benefit, but also Australian farmers, Australian manufacturers benefit,\u201d he told the visiting delegation.<\/p>\n
Echoing his host, Mr Forissier said it was all the more important as tariffs and conflict wreak worldwide economic havoc and upend trading norms.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy conviction is that we are around this table not only to speak of what we have now, but we\u2019re trying to build a better world for our children, grandchildren, the next generation, in a world which is very difficult, very brutal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019m certain that … this trade agreement is one of the best ways to build this peace and this future, because trade and economic partnerships are certainly what strengthen and reinforce the links between the nations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both ministers pointed to critical minerals as an obvious opportunity.<\/p>\n
Australia has many of the critical minerals and rare earths France needs for advanced technologies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need your rare earths and critical minerals,\u201d Mr Forissier said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou also need our expertise, our companies to come and … develop a number of projects. So let\u2019s try to build this, as you said … in a very practical way.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a post-talks joint statement, the ministers pledged to build \u201ca closer and stronger bilateral relationship based on mutual respect, trust, and our shared values of liberty, democracy, rule of law and the protection of human rights\u201d.<\/p>\n
In a thinly veiled nod to China, they noted \u201cthe strategic challenges the Indo-Pacific is facing and the importance of using our partnership to advance peace, stability and prosperity in the region\u201d.<\/p>\n
They also took a swipe at US trade policy under the Trump administration, saying \u201cthe rules-based trading system is the best guarantor of openness and predictability for our businesses\u201d and key to shielding economies against shocks.<\/p>\n
However, they conceded international trade rules needed reform and said they would work together on it.<\/p>\n
Mr Forissier is the first European minister to visit Australia since the free trade agreement with the EU was finalised.<\/p>\n
The deal, which took eight years to clinch, will slash imposts on almost all Australian exports to the European Single Market and increase beef access to 35,000 tonnes per year – a 700 per cent boost on current levels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tearing down trade barriers and reaping tangible benefits is the best way to fight forces slapping \u201cunprecedented pressure\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,164,180257],"class_list":{"0":"post-623386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-newswire-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}