France Calls on EU to Freeze Australia Out Of Free-Trade Agreement

France is calling on its EU allies to freeze Australia out of a free-trade agreement.

It’s amid tensions over a scrapped submarine deal, which saw Australia ditch a deal with the French in favour of a pact with the US and UK.

France calls on EU to freeze Australia out of free-trade agreement

The French government has asked the European Commission, comprising of 27 countries, to reconsider including Australia in the free-trade agreement, after a break of trust with the country.

French officials claim they were blindsided by the Australian Government and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce suggested that the deal could have been approached in a different way.

“The French are very angry, and understandably so, I mean we could have communicated that there was something on the move without disclosing what plan B in Australia was. That I think is the main point, and diplomacy seems to be a craft gone missing within this government.”

He explained that the new deal was a better direction for the country’s future.

“We keep this one under wraps, and we weren’t going to ring the French and go by the way could you just keep this to yourself, but by reasons of the circumstances that we find ourselves in in the Indo-Pacific, we have to change the direction we’re going. We will remain incredibly strong friends and work with the French.”

Australia had hoped to close a trade deal with Brussels by the end of the year after 11 rounds of talk, but it’s believed it may not continue from here after pleas from France.

A failed deal with Brussels may just be the beginning, as it’s feared that our trade negotiations with Europe will collapse.

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