Australia and European trade officials are scheduled to immediately restart negotiations in Brussells after Trade Minister Don Farrell and his EU counterpart Maros Sefcovic agreed to try to land a free trade deal that has so far proved elusive.

Farrell, who is in Paris for a meeting of OECD trade ministers, also met on the sidelines with his US counterpart Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to put Australia’s objections to the imposition of a 50 per cent tariff on steel and aluminium imports, and a blanket 10 per cent tariff on all other imports from Australia.