UK and Australia agree first post-Brexit free trade deal

British PM Boris Johnson says agreement marks ‘new dawn’ in relations between the UK and its former colony.

The United Kingdom and Australia announced a new trade deal on Tuesday, the first such agreement the UK has negotiated from scratch since it left the European Union. The pact, which will eliminate tariffs and red tape, was hailed by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as “a new dawn” in the two countries’ relations. Johnson’s Conservative Party government views the deal as an important element of its post-Brexit strategy to shift the country’s economic centre away from Europe and seek out fresh opportunities in higher-growth Indo-Pacific nations.