China and Australia’s Top Trade Officials to Meet Next Week

Ben Westcott
·1 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell will meet virtually next week for the first time since a change of government in Canberra, a sign of warming diplomatic and economic ties.

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The trade minister is expected to officially announce the meeting during an appearance on the Australian Broadcasting Commission on Tuesday night. No official date has been announced yet, however Farrell has already said he will be raising China’s trade sanctions on Australian exports with Wang.

“The first item on the agenda will be seeking the removal of those A$20 billion ($14 billion) worth of trade bans on some of our important products, like wine, like barley, like meat, like crayfish,” Farrell told Sky News on Monday.

The Chinese government placed trade restrictions on a range of Australian exports, including high tariffs and long customs delays, after former Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an international investigation into Covid-19 in April 2020.

However since the election of the center-left Labor government in May, relations have improved between Canberra and Beijing. In January, there were reports Chinese importers were once again placing orders for Australian coal.

There is no expectation of a quick end to the other trade restrictions at this stage. Australia still has a case against China before the World Trade Organization over Beijing’s restrictions on exports, which is expected to be heard early this year.

Speaking in Canberra earlier in January, China’s ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian denied trade sanctions had been imposed by Beijing.

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