Australia and the United Kingdom sign a trade deal

On Thursday December 16th 2021, the UK signed it’s first "from scratch" trade deal with Australia and marks another important milestone towards achieving acceptance into the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership).

What does the agreement mean for the two countries?

• Free Trade between the two countries, eliminating 100% of tariffs which will be beneficial to some of the UK’s important exports such as Whiskey, and for Australia commodities such as Australian produced wines
• Relaxation of visas restrictions which will facilitate young adults to travel in Australia and work for up to 3 years
• Opens the door to businesses with guaranteed access to Australian public sector contacts
• For the first time UK service suppliers including architects, scientists, researchers, lawyers and accountants will have access to visas to work in Australia without being subject to Australia’s changing skilled occupation list. This benefit has not previously been offered to any other country.

Some trade statistics:

• Total trade in goods and services amounted to £14.5 billion over four quarters ending Q2 this year
• UK exports to Australia amounted to £9.4 billions over the same period
• Imports from Australia amounted to £5.1 billion
• Australia ranks 21 in the top trading partners with the UK

Full statistics can be found here