How is economic security changing the politics and foreign policy in the UK and Australia?

I think a kind of interesting thing about the economic security agenda is that it opens up the prospect that UK-Australia trade, at least in some sectors, might get deeper.

You're listening to the USSC Briefing Room, a podcast from the United States Study Center at the University of Sydney, where we give you a seat at the table for our USSC briefing on the latest developments in US news and foreign policy.

We'll cover what you need to know and what's beneath the surface of the news.

Hello, I'm Mari Kirk, Director of Engagement Impact at the United States Study Center.

Thanks for joining us on the USSC Briefing Room today.

Before we begin, I'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we're recording on today.

The University of Sydney is located on the land of the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, and I pay my respects to their elders past, present, and future.

The term economic security is having a bit of a moment.

While generally unheard of a few years ago, the past three Australian budget speeches have all mentioned economic security, and this year the Australian government announced $38.9 million in funding to increase economic security and resilience.

And countries around the world are starting to move beyond free trade and investment deals to ink economic security deals.

Google search trends show a five times increase in searches for the term economic security worldwide over prior years.

So what is economic security? How does it relate to issues like the Iran war and competition with China? And what can allies and partners do to bolster their economic security? This year, the United States Study Center has joined forces with the UK High Commission to run two Track 1.5 workshops on economic security, one in London and one here in Sydney.

And I'm excited to discuss key findings from these closed-door discussions today with Olivia O'Sullivan, Chatham House Director of U- the UK in the World program, and Hayley Channer, USSC Director of Economic Security.

Olivia and Hayley, thank you so much for joining me today.

Thanks, Mari.

Thank you.

And at the end of the episode, we'll get a stat from each of you for By the Numbers, so I am looking forward to hearing those.