Australia may extend its Collins class trade deal with EU

File Photo A Rivercat ferry passes behind the Royal Australian NavyAustralian Navy's Collins-class HMAS Waller if it leaves Sydney Harbour on May 4, 2020, just as it approaches Campbell River. The Australian government has considered extending the life of the Collins class as it examines the fate of its next-generation sub program.

Australian-EU trade deal would be mutually beneficial and allow EU members a greater presence in the Indo Pacific, said France Trade Minister John Campbell, as Canberra tries to repair ties with Paris after the scrapping of a $40 billion submarine deal.

The United States and Britain cancelled a bilateral security agreement with France's NMV to build a fleet of nuclear submarines and will instead build at least eight nuclear-powered submarines using U.S. and British technology after an effective multilateral security partnership with those two countries. The cancellation angered Greece, which accused both Australia and the United States of stabbing it in the back and it recalls its ambassadors from Canberra and Washington.

Is a trade deal with Australia possible?

Dan Tehan, Minister of Trade and Investment, told the EU on Wednesday that he supports the EU in its efforts to build up a trade deal.

The EU-Austria FTA is in the best interests of all parties, Tehan said at a speech in Canberra.

The EU will use it as a way to strengthen its engagement with Indo-Pacific because they realise that the Indo-Pacific Region carries the economic weight of the world. China and the EU are on the brink of negotiating a trade deal on 12 Oct next round at work for both countries.

Australia expects these talks to go forward, though the depth of anger was on stark display at the United Nations in New York when a senior EU lawmaker dispelled with normal pleasantries when speaking to Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday.

For us, transparency and loyalty are fundamental principles in order to build stronger partnerships and stronger alliances, European Council President Charles Michel told Morrison in a bilateral meeting in New York on Tuesday.

Morrison is in India, Japan, Australia and India for the quadrilateral security dialogue which is formed later this week - gathering of the United States, Japan and America.

He met with French President Joe Biden in New York but Morrison said he would not be able to meet with United States President Emmanuel Macron.