A free-trade agreement between Australia and the European Union looks unlikely before Europe’s election season in mid-2024, Trade Minister Don Farrell said, pushing back any potential deal to the second half of the year.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, Farrell said Australia is still enthusiastic to seal a trade accord with the EU, but the gap between the two sides had been too great to reach any agreement at meetings in Osaka in October.