The Critic, June 9 2023, Catherine McBride
The UK-Australia trade deal is now in force, but all we seem to hear about it are the irrational fears of UK beef farmers. Despite being unable to supply present UK consumer demand, they seem to believe that farmers outside the EU should not be allowed to fill this supply gap. In light of this imbalance, here are some positive things that you may not have heard about the Australian trade deal.
- Australia has dropped all tariffs and quotas on all UK goods with the exception of some steel coils and pipes and some UK cheeses — these will need to wait for five or six years before Australians can import them completely tariff free.
- This trade deal is very good news for UK exporters. Despite the hoo-hah in the press about farmers, the UK’s biggest exports are machinery, vehicles, aircraft and seacraft, electronics, precision equipment, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Together they made up over 50 per cent of UK exports in 2022. To put this in perspective, according to the ONS, UK exports of unprocessed agricultural products made up just 0.6 per cent of total UK exports in 2022.
- Unlike Australia, the UK is retaining its tariffs, quotas and product specific safeguards on Australian agricultural products for many years
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