I hope I’m not cynical but what a wonderful surprise it was for the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen to leave Europe to personally sign a free trade deal with Australia (“PM, Nats split on big $10bn EU deal”, 25/3). The discussions had been dragging out over eight years. Without any seismic shifts in positions about our beef, wine and cheese names or even pesky tariffs, suddenly an excuse was found for the President to arrive on our doorstep. Europe is surely more preoccupied with matters about Ukraine and now Iran, but no, the President insisted that Australia was her priority. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the evidence days ago that Iran could fire a ballistic missile at all the European capitals, which sadly lack air defence. I guess our safe corner of the world needs to be leveraged more as we front up to negotiate with our international partners to make sure we get the best deal. Alan Sexton, North Parramatta 26Mar2026