Summary of a joint statement following the second meeting of the Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Joint Committee on 3 June 2025
Alongside the OECD 2025 Ministerial Council Meeting held in Paris, Australian Minister for Trade and Tourism, Senator the Honourable Don Farrell and UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade, the Rt Hon Jonathan Reynolds MP, met on 3 June 2025, for the second meeting of the Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Joint Committee.
The Ministers celebrated the strong trade and investment relationship between the UK and Australia. Two-way trade between our economies reached AUD36bn or GBP23bn in 2024.
As of 2024, the stock of UK Foreign Direct Investment in Australia reached AUD156bn or GBP77bn, and Australian Foreign Direct Investment in the UK rose to AUD210bn or GBP104bn - an increase of 6.5% and 11.5% respectively on the previous year.
The strong uptake of the Agreement's benefits is resulting in real savings for businesses, workers and consumers.
Since entry into force on 31 May 2023, AUD4.7 bn or GBP2.4bn worth of traded goods benefited from preferential tariff access, i.e. around 70% of goods traded between the UK and Australia made use of available preferences.
Between June 2023 and December 2024:
- AUD3.4bn or GBP1.8bn (65%) of eligible goods imports into Australia from the UK made use of an FTA tariff preference.
Had this trade occurred at standard Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tariff rates, up to an additional GBP89m or AUD172m in duties would have been collected.
- GBP662m or AUD1277m (77%) of eligible goods imports into the UK from Australia made use of FTA tariff preferences.
Had these occurred at standard Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tariff rates, up to an additional GBP139m or AUD269m in duties would have been paid.
The Ministers noted that free and inclusive trade is a cornerstone of prosperity in both countries.
Recognising that open markets, and reliable legal and regulatory frameworks are essential for trade, the Ministers committed to strengthening the rules-based trading system.
Ministers also noted progress on recognition of professional qualifications in key sectors through the FTA's Professional Services Working Group, and the ongoing work under the FTA's Innovation Chapter to explore the potential for a 'biobridge' between our countries to expedite new and innovative medicines, diagnostics, and therapeutics to market.
The Ministers agreed to continue working together to strengthen the role that free trade plays in increasing prosperity and reinforcing resilience against economic turbulence and share the benefits of trade to all including through the World Trade Organization, OECD and Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Notes:
Figures reported are from UK Official Statistics and Australian official sources.
Australian trade data is sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/international-trade/international-trade-supplementary-information-calendar-year/2024
UK trade data sourced from the ONS publication of UK total trade: all countries seasonally adjusted October to December 2024 data.
Trade asymmetries exist between the UK and Australia official trade statistics, but this does not mean that either country is inaccurate in their estimation. Differences can be caused by a range of conceptual and measurement variations between the estimation practices of different countries.
Investment data is sourced from the Australia Bureau of Statistics https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/international-trade/international-investment-position-australia-supplementary-statistics/2024
The underlying data for the imports into the UK preference utilisation figures were sourced from HM Revenue and Custom's (HMRC) UK goods imports by tariff regime, April 2025 data. This data is provided on a country of origin basis.
The methodology used to calculate UK preference utilisation rates can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/preference-utilisation-of-uk-trade-in-goods-technical-annex/preference-utilisation-of-uk-trade-in-goods-official-statistics-technical-annex#methodology-note-for-preference-utilisation-of-uk-trade-in-goods
Estimated duty savings are based on exchanged country tariff schedules and preference utilisation data. For UK imports, these are all calculated using the Ad Valorem, Specific, or Compound tariffs applied at the CN8 level. Where appropriate, Ad Valorem Equivalent tariffs were used (source: MacMap ). The Bank of England spot exchange rates (June 2023-December 2024) was used to convert from GBP to AUD.
Estimates of Australia's preference utilisation and duty savings for the June 2023 to December 2024 period are drawn from Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade calculations using ABS trade data and DFAT tariff schedule data.
Investment data is sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
UK-AUS total goods trade values may not equal the sum of UK goods imports and AUS goods imports due to rounding and methodological differences in calculating preference eligible imports.
