At a time when the Trump tarriffs have raised concerns, Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell said Australia does not support tariffs and the country had already asked the U.S. Government to remove the 10% tariff imposed on Australia.
Expressing confidence about overcoming the hurdles in the ongoing CECA (Comprehensive Economic Agreement) negotiations between India and Australia, he said that the goodwill between the two countries and the current international circumstances ‘where those countries that believe in free and fair trade need to expand their relationship’, will result in further extension of the agreement. But, he refused to give a deadline to the bilateral CECA talks. “We are at the cusp of a golden era of our relationship between Australia and India,” he said while speaking with a small contingent of visiting Indian journalists in Canberra, in the Australian Parliament on Thursday.
No tariffs, protectionism
“We are a country that believes in free and fair trade. We believe that the best way of ensuring prosperity for our workers and our country is to continue with free, fair and open trade. So, we don’t support the imposition of tariffs, whether they are on Australia or India. Obviously, your relationship with the United States is something for you to work through. But only this week, I’ve met with officials of the United States government to make it clear that our view that the 10% tariff that they’ve imposed on Australia is not the right way to go, and that we will continue to push our argument that the American government should remove those tariffs,” Mr Farrell said.
On Adani
When asked by The Hindu about the concerns around Adani mining operations in Australia, he said, “The government supports the Adani mine in Queensland. It has been a very successful mining operation. And, to the best of my knowledge, I’ve not been aware of any difficulties with that, with that particular mine.”
CECA talks
Elaborating on the ongoing CECA negotiations, he said the talks have only moved ahead with the recent round of negotiations. “We had a full week of negotiation last week. We sent our top negotiator to New Delhi, and I think we had a productive week of discussions. I had two zoom calls with Minister (Piyush) Goyal, and I’ve been trying to talk again this week. I’m confident that the goodwill between ourselves and India, plus the current international circumstances where those countries that believe in free and fair trade need to expand their relationship will result in another further extension of our agreement with India. So, I’m very confident that the goodwill that’s been shown so far, the determination on the part of both sides to get a fair agreement, will result in a new agreement, and looking forward to heading over to India to sign such agreement, or inviting Minister Goyal to come to Australia to do so,” he said.
‘Booming Indian middle class’
He said that Australia saw India as a booming economy with several bilateral opportunities, particularly in the agriculture sector. “We see great opportunities in India. Thanks to the policies of the current government, the living standards are very quickly improving, and my understanding is that by 2030 you’ll have something in the vicinity of 900 million people in the middle class. What we know from all of our experience around the region, is that as people’s living standards increase, then, of course, their demand for high quality food and wine also increases. And, we see fantastic opportunities for Australia, which has got a wonderful clean and green image in terms of its agricultural products, to provide much of the food and wine into India,” he said.
Sharing rare earths
Adding that Australia wanted to help India with the Net Zero transition, he said the country was willing to share its minerals, critical minerals, and rare earths with India. “We have the world’s largest or second-largest reserves of all of those critical minerals and rare earths. We want to share our good luck with the people of India. We want to meet your ambitions for Net Zero as well as our own. So, we want to improve the supply chain between Australia and India so that you can be beneficiaries of this wonderful good luck that Australia has,” he said.
Uranium supply
When asked about the plan to export Uranium to India, he said, that Australia has the opportunity to supply uranium to those countries which meet all the relevant international standards. “Olympic Dam is the world’s largest uranium mine. And BHP have an ambition to double the size of that mine. There are some challenges there. South Australia is a very dry State. We’ve been in drought for more than 18 months, although, pleasingly, it looks like we’re going to get about 40 mls of rain tomorrow (on Friday). That’s a bit of good news. So yes, we have the opportunity to continue to supply Uranium into those countries that meet all the relevant international obligations,” he said.
India business hurdles
Answering a question on the challenges Australian companies faced in India, he said that the they have to be more persistent to set up business in India. “I think the biggest challenge that Australian companies face when they go into India is that, like in Australia, you’ve got a federal structure, and you can reach agreements as to how the federal structure might work, but then you have States. And the States have additional rules and regulations which you have to comply with. And to work through the system, you’ve got to be a bit persistent. I think, from Australian company point of view, what I would say to them is, you’ve got to be persistent. You can get advice about what the challenges are, but you’re going to have to devote some resources into getting your foot in the door. Indians are tough negotiators, in my experience, and we have to show that we can comply with all your regulations. We can set up business there, and we can make a contribution to your economy, but also a profitable investment for your point of view.”
(The writer was in Canberra at the invitation of the Australian Government)
Published – August 29, 2025 08:10 pm IST
