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EU chief warns Australia of China threat as $10bn trade deal signed

ROSIE LEWIS - 24 March 2026

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has warned against being over dependent on Beijing, declaring it a strategic imperative to “get China right” as she and Anthony Albanese signed a $10bn trade deal and new security partnership.

In a historic address to Australia’s federal parliament, Ms von der Leyen told MPs from across the political divide that Europe was in a “dangerous moment” shaped by war in Ukraine and the Middle East and diversification was and remained a necessity.

She acknowledged Europe and Australia wouldn’t be immune to the geopolitical and economic shocks brought by the war in Iran.

“None of us is immune to the shocks, both geopolitical and economic, that the war in Iran brings to our populations. Pain at the pump is hard for our citizens. And just another reminder that building our resilience is today’s job,” Ms von der Leyen said.

“We in Europe have been reckoning with our dependencies, particularly with Russian gas.”

Noting these dependencies on other countries’ resources and products, Ms von der Leyen, who leads a powerful bloc of countries representing the world’s second largest economy, said these could be weaponised as geopolitics reaches boiling point, making homegrown energy and independence crucial to shield constituents from energy price shocks.

“Australia knows this all too well. Europe too has been challenged by its dependencies, not just on Russian energy. But also, for our reliance on imports from a single supplier. We cannot and will not absorb China’s export-led growth model, and its industrial overcapacity,” Ms von der Leyen said.

“Last year, every single EU member state ran a trade deficit with China. Both the threat to our supply-chain security and the shock to our industrial base need urgent responses. These are responses we can only devise together.

“For both Europe and Australia, getting China right is a strategic imperative. This is why bringing life to our critical minerals partnership will be crucial to our success. We cannot be over-dependent on any supplier for such crucial ingredients. And that is precisely why we need each other. Our security is your security.”

The security partnership would create a new defence industrial base “so that we are ready, to keep our people safe” and the free trade agreement – which, after eight years of negotiations, she conceded “many thought we might never land” – would unleash a new era in the economic relationship between Australia and the EU.

“This reflects Europe’s changing approach. From Latin America to India, and I am so pleased to add, Australia. When it comes to trade, Europe is open for business,” Ms von der Leyen said.

“We are rearming. We are decarbonising. We are preparing. We are becoming an independent Europe. And this means a more outward Europe. And this is why I am here today. Because showing up matters.”

Ms von der Leyen is the first female leader to address a joint sitting of Australia’s parliament, as well as the first European Commission president. Twenty world leaders have been invited to speak to Australian MPs.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/eu-chief-warns-australia-of-china-threat-as-10bn-trade-deal-signed/news-story/6636dababef6f7b0064b5058baad8aff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gbm9JWuf-w

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EU leader urges democracies to band together in 'upside down' world

Stephen Dziedzic - 24 March 2026

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has struck a grim tone during a landmark address to federal parliament, saying democracies must band together in the face of a "brutal, harsh and unforgiving" world that has been turned "upside down".

The president also declared that Europe and Australia must rearm and decarbonise as they try to break economic and energy dependencies on China and Russia.

"The world we live in is brutal, harsh and unforgiving. It feels upside down. What we knew as certainties are in question," she said.

She also alluded to the strategic chaos stoked by US President Donald Trump's administration, saying Europe recognised it needed to embrace a more independent strategic posture.

"The comfort blanket of yesterday is ripped away. It is confronting," she told the joint sitting.

"But the world we are living in is also a more honest one. We are saying out loud what has changed and how we are changing."

The European Commission president — who was the first female world leader to address federal parliament — said Australia's distance from the rest of the world no longer protected it, or provided any meaningful barriers to its relationship with Europe.

"Distance is no longer a protection or a luxury. The world has changed, but we get to choose how to shape our responses," she said.

"While we have not always maximised this potential, our kinship has always bound us. And our cultures have always understood one another."

'Getting China right' is imperative

Von der Leyen said the "unimaginable" sight of North Koreans "fighting Ukrainians on European soil" was a powerful symbol of how authoritarian regimes were increasingly banding together against democracies.

And she celebrated the new security partnership signed by the European Union and Australia, saying it would help bolster defence industrial cooperation.

"As our adversaries adapt to cooperate together, we too must respond together," she said.

"Because when we stand side-by-side we are stronger."

The president warned that China's vast exports were undercutting Europe's economic model and forcing it towards de-industrialisation, urging Australia to back its efforts to rebalance global trade.

"Both the threat to our supply-chain security and the shock to our industrial base need urgent responses," she said.

"These are responses we can only devise together. For both Europe and Australia, getting China right is a strategic imperative."

Australia has agreed to liberalise access to critical minerals for Europe under a free trade deal unveiled today, and von der Leyen said the suite of agreements would bring real strategic benefits to both sides.

"We cannot be over-dependent on any supplier for such crucial ingredients. And that is precisely why we need each other," she said.

"Our security is your security. And with our new security partnership, we have each other's backs."

She also said that decarbonisation and green energy was a "defining pillar" of the new free trade agreement, saying climate change was "ravaging Europe" and taking steps to cut pollution was "hard-headed commonsense".

"We all know what we are seeing is more severe. Doreathea Mackellar wrote of Australia's droughts and flooding rains affecting your sunburnt country," she said.

"But the point is these climatic events have become more frequent and more intense. And it is our common responsibility to find solutions to power the planet we leave our children."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-24/ursula-von-der-leyen-addresses-australian-parliament/106487954

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMj3icbucNQ

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Australian farmers slam ‘subpar’ EU trade deal for failing to deliver

ROSIE LEWIS - 24 March 2026

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Australia’s farmers have slammed an “extremely disappointing” and “subpar” trade deal with Europe, saying there has been no meaningful gains for the agricultural sector in the last three years of negotiations.

In a scathing critique of the Australia-Europe free trade agreement, National Farmers’ Federation president Hamish McIntyre said the $10bn deal with the world’s second largest economy offered an opportunity to ease pressure on farmers amid global volatility but it hadn’t delivered “commercially meaningful access” for agricultural exports.

“They (farmers) will now pay the price for this subpar EU deal for decades to come,” Mr McIntyre said.

“We are concerned the EU has offered subpar access for Australian producers while potentially needing to deploy billion-dollar subsidies to get their producers to accept the deal.

“This is exactly what happened when the EU signed a deal with the Mercosur nations, fast-tracking nearly $80bn in farm subsidies, sending a clear signal protectionism is alive and well.

“While we acknowledge some progress on issues such as geographical indicators, preserving the use of names like prosecco and parmesan, and access conditionality, farmers will rightly be concerned that after years of negotiations this deal hasn’t delivered commercially meaningful access for Australian agricultural exports.”

Car Dealers say reform not meaningful

Australia’s automotive industry warned the FTA wouldn’t deliver meaningful reform to the Luxury Car Tax, with the introduction of a higher threshold for electric vehicles that car dealers said would affect less than 1 per cent of vehicles sold.

The LCT for EVs would be lifted to $120,000 and the 5 per cent Passenger Vehicle Tariff on vehicles imported from the EU would also be removed but many “everyday vehicles” used by Aussies and small businesses would still be captured by the tax.

“While the introduction of a higher LCT threshold for electric vehicles provides some benefit, it is a narrow change that will only affect less than 1 per cent of vehicles sold and does not address the fundamental flaws of the tax,” Australian Automotive Dealer Association CEO James Voortman said.

“The LCT is a legacy policy from a time when Australia had a domestic manufacturing industry. Today, it acts as a distortionary tax that no longer reflects the realities of the modern automotive market. This was a clear opportunity for the government to implement meaningful reform by either abolishing the tax entirely or ensuring it only applies to genuinely luxury vehicles.”

‘Worst trade deal ever’

Nationals leader Matt Canavan labelled the pact the “worst trade deal ever”, saying it wouldn’t help the beef industry and instead lower the standard of future pacts with other countries.

The Queensland senator, who is also opposition trade and investment spokesman, said increasing tariff-free beef exports from 3000 tonnes to 35,000 tonnes “barely restored” Australia’s market access prior to 2019, when a majority of the EU’s beef imports quota was allocated to the US.

Senator Canavan said he’d been fielding calls from graziers all morning and one of them produced 60,000 tonnes on his own farm.

“We have refused deals that were subpar … for that goal of free trade. This government has thrown out that history today by just signing any deal. On that measure then, in our history, this deal must go down as the worst trade deal ever,” he said.

“We have a proud tradition in this country of keeping a high standard for finalising what is called a free-trade agreement … now the government, by lowering that standard, makes it harder for us to take a tough line for countries in the future. These small morsels of additional access for our farmers are just not enough to throw out our strong and traditional heritage to stand behind free trade.”

Despite his criticism, Senator Canavan would not go as far as saying the government should have held off signing the trade deal with Europe on Tuesday.

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‘Forestry will be undermined’

Australia’s forestry industry hit out at the newly signed pact, saying the removal of trade tariffs on European timber products would “challenge” and “undermine” the competitiveness of local manufacturers.

Australian Forest Products Association chief executive Diana Hallam was concerned about the “lack of opportunities” arising from the deal for the industry.

“Australia’s domestic timber production is already under extreme pressure, including from surging timber imports, a stagnant housing market and rising domestic costs such as energy, insurance, labour, transport and fuel – and this trade deal will further undermine the competitiveness of Australian timber,” Ms Hallam said.

“We are disappointed that adding further price advantage to imports into our timber market, while government is adding costs to domestic production, will be highly detrimental to local timber manufacturing, which is one of the few primary industries that doesn’t receive federal government support for Country of Origin labelling.”

Albanese defends ‘very good’ FTA

A fired up Anthony Albanese laid out “a few facts” about the deal to parliament, noting it guaranteed preferential access for 35,000 tonnes of beef, eight times the current amount of 4000 tonnes. Sheep exports to the EU would increase fivefold to 31,000 tonnes.

“That is what we have delivered but those opposite only have two modes, talking Australia down and tearing each other down,” the Prime Minister said in question time.

“As a result of this EU agreement, we’ll have more Australian beef and sheep meat from Queensland and New South Wales. We’ll have more Australian wine from Western Australia and South Australia. We’ll have more Australian dairy from Victoria and more seafood from Tasmania, all proudly Australian products, the very best in the world.

“After eight years of negotiations, something that couldn’t be done by those opposite, we have today signed the Australia EU-Free Trade Agreement. It represents a very good deal for exporters, for Australian consumers and businesses gaining more access to European products here at home at lower prices.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/australian-farmers-slam-subpar-eu-trade-deal-for-failing-to-deliver/news-story/eeccdfab422ee0e267aa3454d4f255a5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT01BccDCUo

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Fuel supply cliff to hit at end of April as petrol prices in Australia hit record highs

Mike Foley and Nick Toscano - March 24, 2026

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Petrol prices have reached a record high of an average of $2.38 a litre, as Australia’s fuel supplies are set to hit a cliff by the end of April when the Asian refineries that deliver 80 per cent of Australia’s supply exhaust their inventories due to the Iran war oil crisis.

The government and Australian fuel importers are scrambling to lock in shipments of replacement fuel and are in talks with nations across Asia and Europe, as well as the US. The negotiations have become even more urgent after China, which supplies about 4 per cent of the nation’s diesel, paused exports until the end of March.

Ampol, which runs 1800 service stations across the country, is scrambling to find refined fuel to ship into Australia beyond mid-April.

“There is a lot of buffer in the system but, ultimately, if this runs longer than a few weeks, you’re going to see pressure on prices and global supply chains,” Ampol chief executive Matt Halliday said.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen has said that there are 81 fuel shipments bound to reach Australia by mid-May, and only six have been cancelled.

However, the fuel exporters operate just-in-time supply chains and have not yet filled these shipments.

Asian refineries will exhaust their stocks of crude oil within a month, so it remains unclear how these shipments would be filled.

The average national petrol price reached the unprecedented level of $2.38 for regular unleaded in the week ending March 20, according to the Australian Institute of Petroleum weekly price report, which eclipses the record average of $2.19 set the previous week and is up 27 per cent since the war began on February 28.

Regular unleaded petrol reached $2.12 in March 2022 at the peak of the energy crunch caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Bowen announced on Tuesday a temporary reduction of diesel standards, which he said would provide greater flexibility for Australian importers to source fuel from markets with marginally lower flashpoints – the temperature at which fuel can burn.

“This six-month adjustment will lower what’s known as the flashpoint for diesel, from 61.5 degrees Celsius, to 60.5 degrees Celsius, increasing diesel supply options from refiners and international sources,” he said on Tuesday.

Bowen earlier this month lowered petrol standards for 60 days, which he said would enable 100 million extra litres to flow into the local market.

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Australian Institute of Petroleum chief executive Malcolm Roberts said that if Iran kept the Strait of Hormuz shut for another week or two, then refineries in Asia that supply about 80 per cent of Australia’s refined fuel would struggle to refill inventories.

“If this continues, eventually there’ll be a point where those refineries are well and truly short of the crude oil they need,” he said.

“If refineries haven’t been able to find some replacement supply, they’re going to start cutting back production, which some refineries apparently are already doing, and they’ll also come under pressure to prioritise their domestic market … we all know it’s exceptional circumstances, so we’ll just have to wait and see.”

However, Roberts said solutions could be found between now and May to boost global supply of oil, including increased exports via the Red Sea, further releases of oil from nations’ strategic stockpiles, extra production from producers such as Canada, or increased use of Russian oil previously embargoed after the Ukraine invasion.

Macquarie University senior lecturer Lurion De Mello said there was “considerable worry” about the future of fuel imports, given there were no shipments on their way to Australia at present that were set to land after mid-April, according to maritime shipping data.

“I don’t think there’s a reason for extreme alarm, but it is concerning that shipping data hasn’t been updated with deliveries of refined fuel beyond the 15th of April,” De Mello said.

Other countries in the region that supply Australia with refined fuel had also built significant oil and fuel reserves as a contingency in case of a major disruption, which contrasted with Australia’s approach to fuel security, De Mello said.

“South Korea, Singapore, Japan, China have massive amounts of storage because they want to be well prepared. We’re always the laggard with a ‘she’ll be all right’ attitude. But we’re not prepared for this stuff.”

While the volume of supply reaching Australia has remained stable, panic buying has caused localised shortages, especially in regional areas.

Bowen told parliament on Tuesday that in NSW, 289 service stations are without at least one type of fuel, including 164 without diesel. In Victoria, 162 are without at least one type of fuel, as are 35 in Queensland, 46 in South Australia, six in Western Australia and six in Tasmania.

The opposition has accused Bowen of failing to lead state governments in a national response while asking why the consumer watchdog was unable to crack down on potential profiteering.

“The government a couple of weeks ago made a huge song and dance about giving extra powers to the [Australian Competition and Consumer Commission] to be able to deal with gouging. Where is that legislation?,” asked opposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/fuel-supply-cliff-to-hit-in-may-as-petrol-prices-in-australia-hit-record-highs-20260324-p5tujs.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A92Q87VIWU0