Sydney, Nov 21: Australian Prime Minister John Howard today threatened to pull out of a free trade deal with the United States if Washington did not agree to significant agricultural concessions, in comments pitched at concerned local farmers. "It stands to reason that if we can't get something quite big on agriculture then we won't have a Free Trade Agreement, we won't," Howard told.

Australian negotiators warned during the most recent round of talks in Canberra last month that US reluctance to open its markets to Australian farming produce was the biggest hurdle facing the Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

"The full liberalisation of all agriculture... Is certainly a key objective for Australia," Australia's chief negotiator, Stephen Deady, said at the time. The latest US proposal would improve access for only some 20 per cent of Australian products in the first year and would not immediately benefit key industries like sugar, beef and dairy.

Negotiators are set to tackle the thorny issue in the fifth and final round of talks scheduled for Washington next month and Howard said it was only reasonable that Canberra concede to some requests if the US agreed to agriculture demands.

"To get something big on agriculture, we will obviously have to agree to some things that the Americans put to us," Howard said.
Bureau Report