{"text":[[{"start":7.6,"text":"Percy Pig sweets have been an unexpected hit in Australia in recent months after a trade deal with the UK made it easier for local retailers to stock the Marks and Spencer confectionery alongside local favourites Cherry Ripes and Freddo Frogs."}],[{"start":22.9,"text":"“Percy Pigs are flying off the shelves in Australia,” said Louise Cantillon, Britain’s consul general in Sydney, who is also deputy trade commissioner for Asia-Pacific."}],[{"start":33.9,"text":"Bilateral trade has blossomed under a UK-Australia trade deal, the first Britain negotiated in the wake of Brexit, rising £2.8bn, or 14 per cent, in the year to June 2025. The agreement eliminated tariffs including a 5 per cent toll on British biscuits sold in Australia and a 12 per cent levy on Australian beef entering the UK."}],[{"start":57.4,"text":"The UK deal was just one of a flurry of trade agreements Australia inked since the pandemic, as it sought to protect its export-oriented economy and responded to protectionist broadsides from its largest trading partners, the US and China."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":72.55,"text":"Canberra has since 2020 finalised agreements with India, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Peru, as well as signing up to the pan-Asian Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and Pacific Plus pacts. "}],[{"start":86.39999999999999,"text":"Negotiations on a long-awaited deal with the EU concluded last month, bringing Australia’s total number of agreements to 20 since it struck a deal with neighbouring New Zealand in 1983. "}],[{"start":97.8,"text":"The EU agreement marked the “last hurrah” in Australia’s trade deal spree, said John Kunkel, non-resident senior fellow at the United States Studies Centre think-tank in Sydney and a chief of staff to former prime minister Scott Morrison. He added that it sent an important signal that not all countries were lurching towards protectionism."}],[{"start":117.94999999999999,"text":"That drive to deepen and diversify its trading network has helped Australia weather recent geopolitical turmoil, which trade minister Don Farrell has called the country’s “biggest pressure on trade policy” in the postwar era."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":131.6,"text":"The first shock came in 2020 when China, Australia’s largest trading partner, imposed tariffs on a raft of goods including wine, coal, timber, cotton, barley and lobsters. That came after Canberra banned Huawei equipment from 5G networks and called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic."}],[{"start":153.75,"text":"David Uren, a senior fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said that Australia was able to weather China’s three-year “assault” on its exports by leaning on other trading partners. “During the period of Chinese coercion there was a natural lift with Korea and Japan,” he said."}],[{"start":171.25,"text":"Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made repairing the relationship with Beijing one of the hallmarks of his first term in office, and trade has rebounded thanks to China’s vast appetite for iron ore, coal and copper."}],[{"start":185,"text":"China accounted for 24 per cent of Australia’s goods and services trade, or A$309bn (US$220bn) in 2024-2025, up from $251bn in 2019-2020 before the trade tensions, according to government data. "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":203.9,"text":"More recently, the pain has come from the US. President Donald Trump last year imposed a 10 per cent “liberation day” levy on Australia, followed by a 100 per cent toll on its pharmaceutical sector this month."}],[{"start":218.4,"text":"But Australia has also benefited from Trump’s trade war, which has increased US demand for its beef thanks to a favourable tariff differential with rival Brazil. "}],[{"start":227.75,"text":"Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy and chief economist at AMP, said that Australia had benefited from a “low profile” as the Trump administration focused on larger trading partners."}],[{"start":241.2,"text":"He added that Australia’s bilateral deals and the nature of its exports had helped “shield” the country from a tide of protectionism. “We got lucky as our products [meat, barley, coal] are fungible so we could divert them to other markets where we have deals,” he said. "}],[{"start":256.55,"text":"Canberra has also emerged as a key strategic partner in critical minerals, signing a partnership with the US to help counter China’s control of the rare earth supply chain."}],[{"start":266.85,"text":"The value of Australia’s network of trading relationships, which Farrell called a “huge national asset”, has come to the fore over the past month during the global energy shock caused by the war in Iran."}],[{"start":279.25,"text":"Australia is a huge natural gas exporter, but relies on imports of crude and refined oil products such as diesel, petrol and jet fuel for agriculture, industry and transport. Albanese’s government has held talks with Asian partners including Singapore, Japan, Malaysia and Brunei to secure supplies."}],[{"start":298,"text":"Albanese said Australia’s flows of mineral, gas and agricultural exports had been “critically important” in those talks. “Australia is not one of those friends that only rings up when they want something,” he said in a speech in Perth last week. "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":312.75,"text":"The trade deal with the EU, which Farrell called “the missing piece” in Australia’s trade network, was the result of an eight-year slog. Talks were held up by opposition from French farmers to beef imports as well as Australian producers’ long-term use of protected designations including “feta” and “prosecco”."}],[{"start":332.9,"text":"Albanese said the deal could boost Australia’s GDP by A$10bn a year."}],[{"start":339,"text":"Ruben Dewitte, an economist at ING, said that the deal was “sensible” for both sides, offering some cushioning against the impact of US tariffs. "}],[{"start":349.4,"text":"“Strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to shocks is a key economic motivation behind today’s trade agreements,” he said. "}],[{"start":358.9,"text":"For Queensland-based GLT, which makes trailers for mining, waste and agriculture, Europe was “an afterthought” due to costs and friction of regulations, said chief executive Shay Chalmers."}],[{"start":371.29999999999995,"text":"But US tariffs had forced the company to reconsider its procurement strategy, while the trade agreement opened up access to Dutch and German technology."}],[{"start":381.04999999999995,"text":"“There is a real opportunity . . . to treat Australia as a partner not just a testing ground,” she said."}],[{"start":387.09999999999997,"text":"While the impetus for finalising the EU trade deal was to diversify away from an increasingly erratic US, it “shows that free trade is still a relevant objective”, said Kunkel at the United States Studies Centre. "}],[{"start":400.65,"text":"“Governments are demonstrating that they have other partners they can dance with.”"}],[{"start":404.75,"text":"Data visualisation by Haohsiang Ko in Hong Kong"}],[{"start":416.75,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1777944455_4856.mp3"}