USA, Australia and Great Britain remove export barriers for military goods with comprehensive trade agreement
Aug. 15 (UPI) – Australia, Britain and the United States have negotiated a comprehensive trade agreement that would remove extensive export barriers to defense equipment and technology, allowing the allies to work more closely and quickly in their efforts to defend the Indo-Pacific from a resurgent China, officials from the trio said on Thursday.
The trio formed the AUKUS security pact in September 2021 with the intention that the countries would support each other’s security and defence interests. The first initiative under the partnership was a commitment to support Australia in acquiring nuclear submarines.
The Australian Department of Defense on Thursday described the new agreement as a “generational legal reform” that will create an export license-free environment and thus “significantly” boost trade and innovation in the defense sector.
The agreement would remove export controls and regulations on the vast majority of arms exports and eliminate hundreds of export licenses worth billions of dollars a year, Australian officials said.
The new export license-free environment will come into force on 1 September
“These critical reforms will revolutionize trade, innovation and defense cooperation, enabling collaboration at the speed and scale needed to meet our challenging strategic circumstances,” Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said in a statement.
The U.S. State Department said in a statement that it had submitted a communication to Congress on Thursday saying the United States had determined that Australia and Britain’s export control systems were comparable to its own and had created a corresponding export exemption for U.S. companies.
Britain called the agreement a “historic breakthrough” in trilateral relations, saying it would enable faster and more efficient cooperation between the country’s scientists, engineers and defense industry.
“This is just the first important step, together with our good friends, to enhance our ability to protect and defend our countries, our partners, and our interests in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond,” Democratic U.S. Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement on Thursday welcoming the announcement.
The three democratic allies forged their relations against a backdrop of growing global competition and threats from China in the Indo-Pacific, where it is vying with its neighbors for regional control.
Under the Biden administration, the United States is focused on promoting relations with Asian partners to deter Beijing as well as the warring forces of North Korea and Russia further north.
President Joe Biden deepened trilateral military relations between Japan and South Korea last August. In recognition of the importance of these relations, he invited the leaders of Japan, South Korea and Australia to state dinners.
