Tatyana Gracheva

Today is the first day of Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement.
All Australians, including manufacturers, workers, farmers, tradies, innovators, families and students, get benefits from this gold standard trade deal.
Two-way goods trade worth $10 billion in 2022 and two-way services trade worth over $11 billion in 2021-22 make the United Kingdom one of Australia’s major trading partners and its second largest services trading partner.
The UK will let over 99 per cent of Australian products enter duty free, including some of key exports, such as wine, short and medium grain rice, sugar, honey, nuts, olive oil and food supplements.
They eliminated UK tariffs on Australian industrial goods, such as auto parts, electrical equipment and fashion items. Duty free transitional quotas with eventual elimination of all tariffs will be introduced for Australian agricultural products, including beef and sheep meat, sugar and dairy products.
They also eliminated tariffs on 98 per cent of UK imports to Australia for Australian consumers, with the remainder removed within six years.
The UK – Australia people-to-people links are strengthened by this agreement. The same access to the UK job market as nationals from the European Union, except the Republic of Ireland, is now granted to Australian professionals.
Measures designed to improve the mobility of skilled workers and young people in both directions are also included in the agreement. It will become possible from 31 January 2024 for Australians up to the age of 35, up from 30, to apply for working holidays in the UK and stay for a maximum of three years instead of two.
Not just exchange of products and services, but also the exchange of ideas is boosted by trade. The foundation for receiving royalties by Australian artists, including First Nations artists, when their original works of art are resold in the UK, is laid by this new trade agreement.
The trade turnover amounting to over $1 trillion in 2022 makes the UK Australia’s second largest source of investment. Further growth in two-way investment will be promoted with the help of modern investment provisions.
It is important to mention that the agreement doesn’t include an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism. This preserves Australia’s sovereign right to develop and implement legitimate policy measures in areas such as public health and the environment.
Bringing this trade deal into force in record time is prioritised by the Albanese Labor Government legislation in the Parliament, with the aim of helping businesses diversify their trade and bring down the cost of living for Australians.
Assistance from Austrade can be got by Australian business looking to enter or expand into the UK market. The process of cutting the tariff under the agreement apply to their specific goods can also be checked by Business through DFAT’s FTA Portal and DFAT’s Guide to Using the A-UKFTA to export and import goods can be read by them.

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