Australia and China have reached an agreement to try to resolve the trade dispute over Beijing’s high tariffs on Australian barley, ABC reports.
The Chinese government has pledged to conduct an “expedited review” of its tariffs over a three-month period, which could be extended for another month if necessary, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced Tuesday. In return, Canberra would temporarily suspend its appeal against the measure at the World Trade Organization (WTO), she added.
However, Australia reserves the right to re-appeal to the WTO should China fail to remove the barley tariff. In 2020, Beijing imposed an 80.5% tax on imports of Australian cereal for five years, practically closing its market to the oceanic country, which annually exported barley to the Asian giant for a total value of up to 1,500 million Australian dollars. (about 998 million US dollars).
Wine could be next
China is Australia’s largest trading partner and barley is one of its top three agricultural exports. Beijing said it imposed the unfair competition tariff and Canberra state subsidies to distort the market. Australia denied these accusations and resorted to the WTO, which according to sources quoted by ABC, was going to issue a predictably favorable opinion for the oceanic country in the coming days.
The grain is just one of several Australian products that Beijing has imposed high tariffs on, including wine, coal, lobster and lumber, among others. Should the new agreement come to fruition, the Australian government would follow a similar process to reverse the tariffs on wine, Penny Wong said. with RT