Watch: What is the EU-Australia trade deal actually about?

Published on 24/03/2026 - 11:31 GMT+1

It is an implicit 20-hour formation to Sydney, but the prize astatine the extremity mightiness conscionable beryllium worthy it. Or similar European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, "trade is not conscionable economics, it’s power”.

Let’s instrumentality a look.

The economical ties are already massive. The EU is presently Australia's third-largest trading partner, exporting astir €28 cardinal much successful goods than it imports.

For the EU, Australia ranks conscionable 20th. But this woody is not astir selling much machinery. It is astir securing the greenish modulation — a extremity that the Iran warfare has turned into a substance of sheer vigor security.

Australia is the world's third-largest shaper of uncommon earths, and Brussels wants to region commercialized barriers to captious earthy materials specified arsenic lithium and cobalt without relying connected China.

The large sticking point? Agriculture. Fearing a repetition of the Mercosur husbandman protests, Brussels is putting a hard ceiling connected Australian nutrient imports, demanding strict quotas and afloat extortion for European nutrient names.

And Brussels is connected a roll, sealing caller pacts with Mercosur, India, Mexico, Switzerland, and Indonesia to go the eventual reliable partner. And arsenic the European Commission president enactment it, “the satellite wants to commercialized with Europe”.

But the EU's biggest trading spouse is noticeably missing: the United States.

For now, European lawmakers are trying to instrumentality a constricted commercialized deal. But betwixt US President Donald Trump's 15% tariffs and caller US Supreme Court chaos, advancement is slow.

Ironically, the biggest obstacle to an EU-US commercialized woody seems to beryllium the US itself.

Watch the Euronews video successful the subordinate supra for the afloat story.