Trade in Australia

Trade in Australia is governed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was formed in 1987, and has two ministers, one for Foreign Affairs and one for Trade. The current Trade Minister is Craig Emerson.

The headquarters for the Department are currently in Barton, near the Parliament House. Though the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is relatively young, it has made several steps forward in progress in regard to the country's international trade relationships with the rest of the world.

An example is the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement, which is modeled after the North American Free Trade Agreement. The Agreement would be signed in 2004, and would be enforced on January 1st, 2005.

This agreement is considered to be a preferential agreement, which is bound to have a positive impact for Australia's overall economy. Among the various products that are exported from Australia into the United States are tobacco, cotton, textiles, peanuts, beef, avocados, and dairy products.

Before the agreement was signed, there were concerns that the Australian farmers would oppose the FTA. However, because of certain time limits imposed on certain products, such as sugar cane and beef, this would generally not be an overwhelming concern to Americans.
However, even though the FTA has proven to have some benefits, a major concern that has been debated is the fact that is was modeled after the NAFTA, which has been known to cause certain problems, particularly involving trade and labor unions.

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