Australia’s Trade Minister accuses China of breaching its own deals as tariff war worsens
- Trade Minister Simon Birmingham has accused China of breaching trade deals
- China signed a bilateral free trade agreement with Australia in December 2015
Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham has accused China of breaching its own free trade deals.
China signed a bilateral free trade agreement with Australia in December 2015 after a decade of negotiations and last year bought $150billion worth of Australian exports.
Despite that, China has imposed 200 per cent tariffs on Australian wines and 80 per cent import taxes on Australian barley, along with restrictions on Australian exports of beef, timber, lobster and even coal.
Senator Birmingham has hit back at China, accusing it of breaching the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement and its obligations to the World Trade Organisation.
‘The Australian government has become increasingly concerned about a series of trade disruptive and restrictive measures implemented by the Chinese government on a wide range of goods imported from China and that these disruptions have increased significantly in recent months,’ he told the Senate on Wednesday morning.
Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham has accused China of breaching its own free trade deals
‘In the view of the Australian government, the targeted nature of Chinese government measures on Australian goods raises concerns about China’s adherence to the letter and spirit of both its ChaFTA and its WTO obligations.
‘Australia has raised these concerns with Chinese officials on multiple occasions in both Canberra and Beijing.’
Senator Birmingham pointed out that despite being a member of the WTO, China had been hypocritical.
‘The Chinese government has consistently spoken about its commitment to open trade and the multilateral trading system,’ he said.
During the last financial year, China spent twice as much on Australian exports as Australia spent on Chinese imports.
To put that into perspective, China spent $150.5billion on Australian exports as Australia bought $80.9billion worth of imports.
In 2019-20, iron ore exports accounted for 56 per cent of all Australian good exported to China, Australian Bureau of Statistics trade data showed.
China, Australia’s biggest trading partner, in October bought 80 per cent of iron ore exports as it turbo-charged its manufacturing sector.
The Communist power escalated its trade war with Australia after Prime Minister Scott Morrison in April called for an independent inquiry into the causes of COVID-19.
A month later, China imposed 80 per cent tariffs on barley and last month slapped 200 per cent tariffs on Australian wine.
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