Enduring economic partners: 15 years of the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement

When the free trade agreement between the United States and Australia (AUSFTA) went into force on January 1, 2005, the two allies were engaged in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, economic globalisation was yet to reach its high watermark, and China’s economy was less than a sixth of the size that it is today. AUSFTA deepened the US-Australia economic relationship, with two-way trade increasing by nearly 80 per cent and investment flows nearly tripling since 2005. But much has changed since 2005, with globalisation in retreat and China the second-largest economy in the world. What lessons ought we draw from the negotiation, adoption and operation of AUSFTA? In an era of economic uncertainty and US-China strategic competition, what lies ahead in the US-Australia economic relationship? What has time revealed about trade liberalisation in the United States and Australia, some fifteen years after AUSFTA and three years since the US withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership?

Show Notes

To discuss these issues, please join us for a webinar event featuring many of the officials who created the landmark agreement, including: 

• The Hon. John Howard OM AC – Prime Minister of Australia 1996 - 2007
• The Hon. Arthur Sinodinos AO – current Australian Ambassador to the United States
• The Hon. Joe Hockey –  President and Founding Partner of Bondi Partners; former Australian Ambassador to the United States; former Federal Treasurer
• Robert Zoellick – Senior Counselor at Brunswick Group; former US Trade Representative; former US Deputy Secretary of State; former President of the World Bank 
• Wendy Cutler – Vice President and Managing Director of the Asia Society Policy Institute; former US Deputy Trade Representative 
• Michael Thawley AO –  Vice Chairman, Capital Group International; former Australian Ambassador to the United States; former Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and senior public servant 

The event also featured special video messages from Prime Minister Scott Morrison and US Ambassador to Australia A.B. Culvahouse Jr.

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