KANANASKIS, Alberta — The European Union and Australia overnight announced they would start negotiating a “Security and Defence Partnership” and noted their commitment to “advancing free trade negotiations.”

In a statement announcing the planned defense partnership, the European Commission said it “will provide a framework for current and future cooperation including in areas such as defence industry, cyber and counter-terrorism.” But Brussels stressed the future pact “does not have military deployment obligations.”

The decision to start defense talks was made on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada following a meeting between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President António Costa and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“This will open the door to joint defence procurement opportunities and will benefit both our industries and our security,” Albanese said in a statement.

“In a time of rising tensions and strategic competition, trusted partners must stand together,” von der Leyen said in her own statement. She added that the EU and Australia are separately “also committed to advancing free trade negotiations — because economic security matters too.”

Brussels and Canberra started negotiating a free-trade deal in 2018, before talks collapsed at the final hurdle in 2023, when Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell walked away complaining of a lack of access to the EU market. But with U.S. President Donald Trump slapping tariffs on the globe, the EU-Australia deal has come off the back-burner, with the Commission noting in its statement overnight that there was “strong momentum in the Australian – Europe relationship.”