Keep perspective on UK trade deal, John Howard says

John Howard has welcomed the post-Brexit symbolism of the new UK pact but warned Australia must not lose sight of Asia’s importance.

Former Prime Minister John Howard. Picture: Toby Zerna

John Howard has welcomed the post-Brexit symbolism of the new free-trade pact with Britain but warned it must be kept in perspective and that Australia must not lose sight of the importance of the resources trade with Asia.

The former prime minister and Fraser government special trade minister, who bore the brunt of Britain joining a common agricultural market with the European Community in 1977, also warned that it was not possible to go back to the way it was in the 1970s.

“It’s obviously a welcome development but the gains are not huge and it needs to be kept in perspective,” Mr Howard told The Australian on Wednesday. “We need to keep our focus on the trade relationship with Asia, and not just China.”

“You can’t go back to what it was like in the 1970s. Too much has changed and there are entirely new bodies such as the WTO and different rules.

“There is a lot of symbolism in this being (Britain’s) first trade agreement since Brexit – almost a sense of regret from the time Britain turned its back on Australia and New Zealand.

“From my time in Europe I felt it was never a happy marriage ­between Britain and Europe, and I was not surprised at the result of the Brexit vote.”

The intervention from Mr Howard came as Labor opened the first political battlelines over the free-trade agreement with Britain, raising concerns there would be no labour-market testing requirements before local companies hired British workers. Opposition trade spokeswoman Madeleine King said she was concerned about Britain’s claim that the free-trade agreement would mean “Aussie firms will no longer have to prioritise hiring Australian nationals first”.

“I’m really concerned about the indication from (the) trade ministry about waiving labour-market testing for British workers coming in,” Ms King said.

“We don’t have any of that ­detail and that is a risk. That creates a position where some of our professional workers might be pushed out in favour of Brits.”

Mr Howard said that while “anything is handy” in a trade deal, the return to a trade pact with Britain was not as important as the 1957 agreement to trade with Japan, which set up the resources trade with North Asia.

“We still rely heavily on our ­resources trade with Asia – not only with China but with Japan and South Korea – and we must not lose sight of that,” he said.

“We will do ourselves great self-harm to Australia’s interests if we slow down our coal exports in some studied act of lunacy.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pointed to the difference between Australia’s trade with Britain and China, saying Australia’s trade with China “is $175bn and its trade with the UK is $15bn”.