Australia augurs latest phase of Europe’s diversification from China

CANBERRA is over 16,000 kilometres from Brussels, yet the Australian capital has been top of mind for many European Union decision-makers in recent months, in the context of Europe’s economic plans to diversify from China.

China has experienced rapid gross domestic product growth for decades, and has built a strong global foothold in raw materials, especially critical minerals that are powering the digital and green transition. The high dependence of Europe on China for these minerals worries policymakers in Brussels, and is one of the key drivers of the EU’s economic diversification agenda.

In this context, trade talks between Brussels and Canberra collapsed last year, in large part because of disagreements over agricultural issues. This stemmed from the EU’s rules on geographic indicators, which would block Australian producers from labelling products with European-centric names, such as “prosecco” or “feta”.