Rome | Australia’s longest-serving foreign minister, Alexander Downer, is sceptical that the deadlock with the European Union over a free trade deal can be broken, but said Australia should still push the EU to join the trans-Pacific trade pact to counter the chaos caused by US President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would renew leader-level discussions for an Australia-Europe free trade deal when he meets European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the sidelines of Pope Leo XIV’s Mass of Inauguration in Rome.