Aussie farmers and businesses look for trade certainty

Europe is pushing for stronger trade ties and clean energy co-operation with Australia as businesses look for certainty and world leaders shore up economic allies.

World leaders met for a major economic summit against the backdrop of an incoming Trump presidency with flagged trade tariffs under a more protectionist agenda and expectations America will walk away from climate commitments.

Trade was “an important engine for inclusive economic growth” and there needed to be a non-discriminatory, open and fair international system, G20 leaders agreed in Brazil.

US President Joe Biden also pushed to hold the line on climate action as leaders agreed the finance needed to be in the trillions not billions of dollars, although no concrete targets were committed to in the final communique.

European Union ambassador to Australia Gabriele Visentin rejected criticism about a lack of consensus on climate ambition, saying the numbers would come from the more specialised COP29 climate conference.

Public commitment to renewable and green energy encouraged private sector investment due to the predictability it ensured, Mr Visentin said.

“The business sector likes goals,” he said.

“If the public authorities commit to goals globally, then the business exactly knows the direction of travel.”

On the incoming Trump presidency, Mr Visentin said people were only speculating about how he would act in office and “we shouldn’t pre-dramatise”.

“We have already all worked with a Trump administration, so let’s see what will happen,” he said.

Australian farmers expressed concern about access to overseas markets being limited or international trade restricted as growers work to diversify markets amid global uncertainty.

There were challenges for exporters realising the full benefits of free trade agreements, with the global trading environment under pressure, National Farmers Federation economics and trade general manager Chris Young said.

“It’s imperative that we all, particularly against these global challenges, continue to promote their benefits to the broader community and fend off any creeping protectionist tendencies,” he told a parliamentary inquiry into trade on Friday.

The Australian sugarcane industry “is the most trade-exposed of the world sugar industries” and changes to market access heavily impacted growers as sales were tied to the global sugar price, the inquiry heard.

“For that reason, changes in ... market access significantly affect the profitability of both sugar cane growers and sugar mills across the country,” Trade consultant for Queensland Canegrowers Organisation Warren Males said.