UK-Australia careless trade agreement.

 When the UK agreed its first big post-Brexit trade deal with Australia in the summer of last year, then trade secretary Liz Truss proclaimed it a «win-win» that would slash tariffs, lower prices and improve choice. But a year-and-a-half after that jubilant announcement, the trade pact has been criticized by politicians and officials who believe errors were made in securing a deal by the culmination of the G7 summit in June 2021. With Prime Minister Rishi Sunak now pledging to take a more patient approach to deals, including with India and membership of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, business groups and trade experts have called for the UK to be more strategic and do more to win support at home for international trade. According to many senior Whitehall officials, the Australia trade agreement was rushed through because of the hard political deadline set by Truss, combined with a lack of negotiating expertise and experience.

The result was a pact tilted in Australia’s favour and particularly advantageous for its farming industry because of the desire to get the first big post-Brexit deal over the line. The result was a deal the National Farmers’ Union criticized as «one-sided», a sentiment George Eustice, the former environment minister, admitted in a letter to then prime minister Boris Johnson, which said the agreement «gave away far too much for far too little in return». «We cannot risk another outcome such as Australia where the value of the UK agri-food market access offer was nearly double what we got in return,» Eustice wrote last June, warning Johnson not to repeat the same mistake in negotiations with India. Of particular concern for farmers was the government’s decision to ignore NFU calls to ensure that beef and lamb quotas were based on «carcass weight equivalent», which calculates skin, bone and blood quotas, reducing them in size.

In a bid to rein in the government, the NFU launched a petition calling for more protection for farmers and UK food standards. Another argued that the geopolitical impact of the agreement was crucial. «Australia is a very significant economy; they’re Five Eyes members and respect the rule of law. » The DIT said the pact would «unlock» £10bn of bilateral trade.

«We have always said that we will not compromise the UK’s high environmental, animal welfare or food safety standards, and the deal includes a range of safeguards to support British farmers,» it said. DIT officials and ministers also say privately they are eager to learn the lessons of the deal with Australia and avoid the same errors with future agreements, including a pact with India and membership of the CPTPP, the Pacific trade grouping, which Sunak has made a priority. But Sam Lowe, trade policy partner at consultancy Flint Global, warned that the rush to conclude the Australia deal had dented confidence in trade policy and set unhelpful precedents for future talks. Canada’s desire to leverage concessions has also played into the UK’s attempt to join the CPTPP, which officials concede has slipped into next year.

As well as CPTPP members such as Canada seeking to wring concessions from the UK, they also had one eye on China’s accession process, Lowe added and was wary of granting the UK membership without full compliance with the group’s rules in case it was taken as a precedent by Beijing. «I am aware that India is a tough negotiator, but I firmly believe the UK should be too he wrote.

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