Australia takes wine issue with China to WTO when sales sink | Business and Economic News

The wine tariffs set by Beijing doubled or tripled the price of Australian wine and made the Chinese market viable for exporters.

The Australian government said on Saturday it would file a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization over China’s imposition of anti-dumping taxes on Australian wine exports. Increasing close trade with Beijing.

“The government will continue to defend the interests of Australian wine producers using the system set out in the WTO to resolve our differences,” Dan Tehan, Minister of Trade, Tourism and Investment, said in a statement with Agriculture Minister David Littleproud. .

Relations with China, already serious, after Australia banned Huawei from creating new 5G broadband networks in 2018, has deteriorated since Canberra called for an international investigation into the origin of the coronavirus since it was first reported in central China last year.

China, Australia’s largest trading partner, has imposed tariffs on Australian raw materials, including wine and barley, and limited imports of Australian beef, coal and grapes, moves that the United States has said is an “economic obligation”.

Last year, Australia filed a formal appeal with the WTO to review its decision to impose heavy tariffs on Chinese barley imports from China.

Wine rates doubled or tripled in price and the Chinese market for exporters became viable, the Australian government said earlier.

Australian winemakers shipped just $ 12 million ($ 9 million) of wine to China in the four months from December to March, while Australian $ 325 million ($ 243 million) a year earlier, industry data showed, confirmed new high tariffs. all of which eliminated the largest export market.

‘Conflict resolution system’

Earlier in June, Prime Minister Scott Morrison called on the WTO to rectify the disagreement between the two countries and a few days later won the support of a group of seven countries in the face of China’s growing influence on world trade.

On Saturday, the government said that despite the accusation, Canberra was willing to cooperate with Beijing.

“Australia is open to contacting China directly to resolve this issue,” Tehan and Littleproud said in a statement.

Saturday’s move came a week after a G7 advanced economics group summit called for a tougher stance against Australia’s Chinese trade practices and a tougher stance against more demanding ones.

The US-led G7 summit ended on June 12. Plans announced by the US to tackle the $ 1 trillion “Belt and Road Initiative” are a feature of efforts to spread economic impact around the world.

The group pledged billions of dollars in infrastructure investment for low- and middle-income countries “Build Back Better World” (B3W) project.

B3W was considered right to compete with China’s efforts, as it has been widely criticized for networking small countries that cannot handle debt.

Morrison also called for South Korean, South African and Indian leaders to join the G7-plus formula, and made it clear that he would push other nations against China’s aggressive trade policies.

“The most practical way to deal with economic coercion is to restore the binding system of dispute resolution of the global trading body,” he said in a speech before the summit.

“When there is no effect on coercive behavior, there is little incentive to hold on,” he said.

Morrison has received explicit support from the U.S. in the face of his government’s dealings with China, as well as a visit to Paris after French President Emmanuel Macron met in Paris.