Click to expand Image Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen at the Nato Leaders' Summit in Madrid, Spain, June 29, 2022. © 2022 Lukas Coch/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock This week, European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic will visit Canberra in anticipation of signing a free trade agreement with Australia. The deal will be the third concluded by the EU this year, following others with the Mercosur and India, and with more likely to follow. Australia meanwhile has concluded an agreement with the UAE and is seeking to boost economic ties with India.Yet, as the EU and Australia intensify efforts to conclude trade treaties, their defense of the international rules-based order on which treaties depend has been less robust.Von der Leyen recently came under fire following a speech in which she claimed Europe “can no longer be a custodian for the old-world order,” arguing the EU should pursue “a more realistic and interest-driven foreign policy.” Facing criticism, she later reaffirmed commitment to international law, as both the EU and Australia often do in statements. Their actions, however, do not always match their rhetoric.Abusive migration policies, foreign policy double standards, and lukewarm defense of international law from both the EU and Australia have contributed to the weakening of the rules-based order they claim to support.A course change is needed.Amid global uncertainties largely induced by US President Donald Trump, the EU and Australia should reject the “low rights” economic model pushed by China and act to ensure it no longer gets rewarded.The Australian government should heed recommendations to use trade to advance rights and environmental protection, and the EU should live up to its treaty obligations to do that, for instance by focusing on labor reforms in negotiations with Thailand and Gulf countries, instead of overlooking repression as it has done in deals with India and Vietnam.Von der Leyen should reverse deregulation efforts that have undone years of EU progress to address corporate abuses, while Australia should adopt human rights due diligence legislation.Furthermore, both the EU and Australia should uphold international law and ban trade with Israel’s illegal settlements, and end their one-sided approach to denouncing rights abuses and laws of war violations in the Middle East.They should invest in the United Nations human rights pillar and consistently implement policies inspired by it. Ultimately their actions, not their words, will show how deep their “shared commitment” to the international rules-based order really is, at a time when it’s most needed.