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PBEC Trade Report June 2021

Issue: 007:

AUSTRALIA & UK CONCLUDE FTA: Prime Ministers Morrison and Johnson have reached an agreement in principle for an historic bilateral FTA. The FTA was reached over dinner at 10 Downing Street. The FTA is the UK’s first comprehensive trade agreement since leaving the EU. It expected to come into force in 2022.

AUSTRALIAN FARMERS TO PROGRESSIVELY GET BETTER ACCESS: Australian farmers will progressively get better market access to the UK under the bilateral FTA. British farmers will be protected by a cap on tariff free imports for 15 years. UK manufacturers will benefit from the elimination of all Australian tariffs.

INDIA’S AGRICULTURE EXPORTS GROW STRONGLY: India’s agriculture exports reached more than $US41 billion in 2020/21, an increase of more than 17% on the previous year. Exports of rice, grains, sugar and cotton grew significantly. India’s biggest produce markets were the US, China, Bangladesh and the UAE.

AUSTRALIA & SINGAPORE LOOK TO 2022 START: Prime Ministers Morrison and Lee met in Singapore during the week and urged continued ratification efforts by the signatories to the RCEP FTA to ensure its entry into force by January 2022. The RCEP FTA covers ASEAN and Australia, China, Japan, Korea and NZ.

TAIWAN & US TO BEGIN TRADE TALKS: Supply chain security is expected to be a key element of trade talks between Taiwan and the US in the next fortnight. USTR Tai spoke with Taiwan trade negotiator John Deng during the week. The talks will be held under an existing Trade & Investment Framework Agreement.

AMCHAM CALLS FOR US TO HOST APEC: The American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore has called on the US to further demonstrate its commitment to multilateral engagement and to bolster US trade leadership by hosting APEC in 2023. APEC has been hosted by New Zealand this year and Thailand in 2022.

AUSTRALIAN & PAKISTAN TO BOOST TRADE: Australian canola, chickpea, lentil and wheat exporters are to benefit from improved market access to Pakistan following biosecurity negotiations between the two economies. The resumption of canola exports will represent the first shipments since 2016-17.

NZ MINISTER FLIES TO EUROPE: Trade Minister O’Connor is in Europe this week in a bid to boost FTA negotiations with the UK and the EU. He is to meet with UK Trade Secretary Truss in London and EU Trade Commissioner Dombrovskis in Brussels. He will also meet Trade Ministers in Singapore and France.

CANADA LOOKING TOWARD ASEAN FTA TALKS: Canada is looking toward launching FTA negotiations with ASEAN later this year. International Trade Minister Ng spoke this week of the potential trade agreement in calls with Philippines Trade Secretary Lopez and Singapore Trade Minister Gan.

JAPAN PURSUES ANTI-DUMPING TALKS WITH CHINA: Japan has formally sought talks at the WTO with China over anti-dumping duties imposed in 2019 on stainless steel products from Japan. It argues China’s determination and investigation procedures in imposing the duties breached global trade rules.

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