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Comment by ceejayoz | Hacker News Reader

Brussels and DC are almost the same distance from Canberra.

(Also Australian, but living in the US.)

https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/southeast-asia-pacific/au...

> U.S. goods and services (exports plus imports) trade with Australia totaled an estimated $102.0 billion in 2025, up 15.6 percent ($13.8 billion) from 2024.

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/eu-australia...

> In 2024, trade in goods and services between the European Union and Australia was worth over €91 billion.

(That's $105B in FreedomBucks, and excludes the UK.)

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> Brussels and DC are almost the same distance from Canberra.

Yes. We’re not interested in joining the EU. And we’re not interested in becoming a US state.

But trade doesn’t need to go all the way to DC. By plane, Sydney to LA is about - 13.5 hours. Sydney to Brussels is 20 hours. I imagine the difference is even greater for cargo ships, which can sail directly through the pacific. I have no idea how cargo goes from Australia to Europe. That sounds like a complex route.

As for trade, the US is important but they’re not our most important trading partner. China accounts for $326 billion aud in trade annually. If your numbers are right, that’s more than our trade with the US and Europe combined.

I suspect integrating into the EU single market wouldn’t be worth it for us. We’re not part of Europe. We’re not a European country.

https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/china/china-country-brief

> We’re not interested in joining the EU.

The article isn't about joining the EU (as the original post you replied to called it, "unlikely anyway").

> But trade doesn’t need to go all the way to DC.

Nor Brussels; Perth to Greece via the Suez cuts the time, too.

> As for trade, the US is important but they’re not our most important trading partner.

OK, but the EU and US trade with Australia roughly equivalently per the numbers, and you said "Our major trading partners are nearby countries, like China, Japan, NZ, and the US. Not continental Europe." It's just a flatly false claim.

Chill, nobody said anything about Oz joining the EU. We live in quite different time zones. A free trade agreement on the other hand might work. Canada has one if the remaining 10 EU state would bother to actually ratify it.

AN AU-EU free trade agreement has been negotiated, with the deal agreed in March 2026. It’s now making its way through both sides‘ political processes.

https://commission.europa.eu/topics/trade/eu-australia-trade...

https://www.austrade.gov.au/en/how-we-can-help-you/australia...

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