Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
The Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement enters into force today.
The agreement is a gold standard trade deal that delivers benefits for all Australians – including manufacturers, workers, farmers, tradies, innovators, families, and students
The United Kingdom is one of Australia’s major trading partners, with two-way goods trade worth $10 billion in 2022, and two-way services trade worth over $11 billion in 2021-22, making it our second largest services trading partner.
As of today, over 99 per cent of Australian products will enter the UK duty free. These include some of our key exports, such as wine, short and medium grain rice, sugar, honey, nuts, olive oil and food supplements.
UK tariffs on Australian industrial goods, such as auto parts, electrical equipment and fashion items are now eliminated. Australian agricultural products, including beef and sheep meat, sugar and dairy products, will have duty free transitional quotas, with eventual elimination of all tariffs.
For Australian consumers, tariffs on 98 per cent of UK imports to Australia are now eliminated, with the remainder removed within six years.
The agreement strengthens our people-to-people links with the UK. Australian professionals now have the same access to the UK job market as nationals from the European Union, except the Republic of Ireland.
The agreement also includes measures designed to improve the mobility of skilled workers and young people, in both directions. From 31 January 2024, Australians up to the age of 35, up from 30, will be able to apply for working holidays in the UK and stay for a maximum of three years instead of two.
Trade is more than just the exchange of products and services, it also boosts the exchange of ideas. Which is why our new trade agreement lays the foundation for Australian artists, including First Nations artists, receive royalties when their original works of art are resold in the UK.
The UK is Australia’s second largest source of investment, amounting to over $1 trillion in 2022. Modern investment provisions will help promote further growth in two-way investment.
Importantly, an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism is not part of the agreement. This means Australia’s sovereign right to develop and implement legitimate policy measures in areas such as public health and the environment is preserved.
The Albanese Labor Government prioritised legislation in the Parliament to bring this trade deal into force in record time, delivering on our commitment to help businesses diversify their trade and help bring down the cost of living for Australians.
Australian business looking to enter or expand into the UK market can seek assistance from Austrade. Business can also check how the tariff cuts under the agreement apply to their specific goods through DFAT’s FTA Portal and read DFAT’s Guide to Using the A-UKFTA to export and import goods.
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