Trade Minister Don Farrell flies to Brussels in hopes of finally closing out trade deal

Australia believes a trade deal with the European Union is the closest it has been to being finalised as Trade Minister Don Farrell flies to Brussels to hold talks with his counterparts.

Senator Farrell surprised the Europeans when he walked away from trade talks they believed were all but a done deal in late 2023, declaring that the offer on the table wasn’t good enough for Australia.

After elections in Australia and the EU and Donald Trump’s tariffs upending global trade, talks on the deal have resumed and expectations are high that it can get done.

Senator Farrell will spend most of Thursday in negotiations with EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič and EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Christophe Hansen.

If they make solid progress or, in a best-case scenario, reach an in-principle agreement, the final details would be nutted out at leader level between Anthony Albanese and EU President Ursula von der Leyen.

“Australia is ready to do a deal but we don’t do deals for deals’ sake,” Senator Farrell said on Wednesday ahead of his departure.

“As I have clearly and consistently said, any deal must be in Australia’s interests and include new, commercially meaningful market access for Australian agriculture.

“I don’t do bad deals.”

Ms von der Leyen had been preparing a visit to Australia in coming weeks in anticipation of this but delayed the plans after meeting with France’s leader Emmanuel Macron.

The French are one of the main opponents of allowing more Australian beef in to Europe, which is one of the final sticking points in the deal.

Australia wants a guarantee its farmers will be able to export at least 30,000 tonnes of beef, mainly fresh meat, to the continent each year under the deal.

Sheep meat quotas are also under discussion, but are less contentious.

From the European side, the long-standing issue of geographic indicators – products named for the places they originated – continues to be problematic.

However, the original list of some 400 names the EU wanted to ban Australian producers from using has been whittled down to just four: prosecco, feta, parmesan and pecorino.

There is also likely to be movement from Australia on luxury car taxes, which are of particular concern to Germany and Italy, and further discussion about preferential access to critical minerals.

The EU is already Australia’s third-largest trading partner, even without an agreement in place, with two-way trade worth $109.7 billion in 2024-25.

If the deal can be struck, it would unlock access to a high-income market comprising 450 million.

Research from the European side previously has suggested a free trade deal would boost Australia’s GDP by up to $6.9 billion.