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AAP
AAP
Politics
Poppy Johnston

EU offer on trade deal 'not good enough'

Agriculture minister Murray Watt says the EU 'hasn't come to the party' on Australia's trade terms. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

A trade deal with the European Union remains a way off as the Australian government pushes back on the latest offer.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt says the terms put on the table by the EU are "just not good enough".

He said Australia was not asking for anything unreasonable and its demands aligned with agreements brokered between the EU and other countries.

"But unfortunately, the EU hasn't been prepared to come to the party at the moment," he told ABC News on Sunday.

The minister had been meeting with EU officials ahead of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation conference in Rome.

The federal government has been working on a free trade agreement with the EU for around five years that would give Australian producers greater access to a market of more than 450 million people.

But negotiations have broken down over the conditions attached to a range of agricultural commodities, including beef, sheep, sugar and dairy products.

The agriculture minister said the latest round of meetings had allowed the government to reiterate its position.

"A lot of the European agriculture ministers were of the view that the deal was nearly done and that Australia was quite happy with what was being offered," he said.

"So it's obviously been very useful to make clear that that's not the case."

While the trade and agriculture ministers remain determined to reach an agreement, the government has said it will walk away if a deal cannot be reached that's in Australia's best interests.

"We think that there are real benefits for both Australia and the EU," Mr Watt said.

"But we do need to see the EU offer to Australia in terms of agricultural inputs to be much higher than what they've got on the table at the moment."

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