By Elishya Perera
SYDNEY, Australia (CWBN)_ China imposed new tariffs on Australian wine imports on Friday (Nov 27), the latest move escalating trade tensions between the two countries following increasing sanctions against several other Australian commodities, including beef, lobster, barley, timber and coal.
Tariffs up to 212 percent were imposed on Australian wine, which could make business unviable for a $3 billion industry that sends 40 percent of its exports to Beijing.
China claims that the recent tariffs were a result of the “material damage” caused to their local market owing to the dumping of Australian wine, following the findings of the anti-dumping probe launched into Australian wine imports by China in August.
Nevertheless, Canberra suspects other motives, as Beijing has previously blamed Australia for the growing diplomatic row, following Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s calls for investigations on the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic, which emerged from Wuhan.
Moreover, the ban on Huawei’s participation in Australia’s 5G wireless network and the Australian Government’s outspokenness about human rights issues in China have contributed to the disputes.
Cabinet Minister Dan Tehan said, earlier today, that the government is seeking to have a conversation with Beijing and seeking to address the dispute in the World Trade Organisation, in order to ensure the government does what’s right by Australian Winemakers.
“What the government is doing is seeking to address a concerning pattern of behaviour by the Chinese against Australia,” Tehan said.
Meanwhile, China called for Australia to “reflect deeply upon itself” after imposing the recent embargoes. The communist regime said that if Australia has sincerity in contact and dialogue with China, they should cease to harm China’s national interests.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, said that Canberra should “face up to the crux in the bilateral relationship, treat China and China’s development objectively and rationally, and take China’s concerns seriously, instead of harming China’s national interests under the banner of safeguarding their own national interests and going further down the wrong path.”
Australian Trade Minister, Simon Birmingham, said the tariffs were “grossly unfair, unwarranted [and] unjustified.”
“It’s a tax on Chinese consumers, essentially, but by taxing the product at such enormous, impactful levels, it will likely see consumers turn away from that, and that is what has the devastating impact on Australian producers,” Birmingham pointed out.
On the other hand, addressing the allegations of dumping by Australian winemakers, Federal Agriculture Minister, David Littleproud said that while Australia would respect the process of the anti-dumping probe launched by Beijing, however, stressed that “transparency and understanding about this decision” is expected.
Asserting that Australia is a fair-trading nation, Littleproud said the government will move quickly to “get an appreciation of the reasoning behind the determination in introducing these tariffs.”
Edited by Chathushka Perera
