Hopes of Australia and the European Union striking a landmark trade deal have received a boost, with Europe’s trade chief to head to Canberra next month for talks with senior government officials to try to seal a pact Labor is pitching as an antidote to Donald Trump’s tariff spree.

There is renewed optimism about the free trade negotiations after momentum appeared to fade earlier this year as European negotiators indicated they were instead focused on dealing with the fallout from US tariffs and striking a deal with the South American common market.

Following two years of deadlock over a rift to do with farm exports, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese used last week’s United Nations General Assembly in New York to lobby French President Emmanuel Macron and other European leaders over the tr

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