U.K., Australia set to announce final trade deal this week

The U.K. and Australia are poised to announce a completed free-trade agreement, ending the haggling over issues including market access for farm goods since the two sides agreed the outline for the pact in June.

The final text could be confirmed as soon as tomorrow, according to a person familiar with the negotiations, who asked not to be identified. Britain’s Department for International Trade said it would make an announcement “in due course.”

Though the accord is only expected to have a modest impact on the British economy—boosting GDP by 0.02% over the next 15 years, according to official analysis in 2020—the U.K. government is likely to tout it as further evidence of what it sees as the benefit of leaving the European Union.

Boris Johnson has long hailed the ability to sign bilateral deals around the world as a key rationale for quitting the bloc. But the reality has proved more complicated, and the Australia deal would be the first that goes beyond rolling over a trade relationship the U.K. had as an EU member.

“We continue to make good progress towards finalizing the free trade agreement and will announce its signature in due course,” the department said in a statement. “Our trade deal with Australia will boost the economy, increase household wages and deliver benefits and opportunities throughout the U.K.”

Johnson’s most sought-after deal with the U.S.—which he talked up during the 2016 Brexit referendum—appears years away, with President Joe Biden’s administration focused on domestic priorities and skeptical of Britain’s handling of post-Brexit tensions with the EU over Northern Ireland.

Data published by the Bank of England this month also showed that Britain’s overall trade as a share of GDP has declined since Brexit, while it has grown for major EU economies. U.K. firms have been hampered by new red tape and bureaucracy due to leaving the bloc’s single market and customs union. 

According to the agreement-in-principle from June, the U.K.-Australia deal will cut tariffs on products including Scotch whisky, clothing and cars. It will also reduce levies on agricultural products, sparking anger from British farmers.