Trade Minister Don Farrell is predicting China’s remaining restrictions on Australian exports will be lifted in the new year.
He believes Beijing will overturn its ban on Australian wine early in 2024 and he’s hoping to see movement on lobster in the months ahead too.
If he’s right, this would be the final step in normalising trade relations between Australia and China.
Beijing has been gradually unwinding its $20 billion in sanctions as the diplomatic relationship returns to steadier ground.
Farrell said it was “another positive step towards the stabilisation of our relationship with China”.
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Albanese met China’s Premier Li Qiang and President Xi as part of the first visit to the nation by an Australian prime minister in seven years, with the trade restrictions firmly on the agenda.
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The two countries pledged to resume annual leaders’ meetings and work together on trade, another positive step amid the easing of tariffs China had imposed on a range of Australian goods in retaliation for comments from Canberra about COVID-19, human rights and other issues.
Relations went into a spiral in recent years as suspicions of Chinese interference in Australian politics increased and China hit out at Australia’s call for an inquiry into the origins of the pandemic and allegations it was seeking to intimidate members of the Chinese-Australian community.
Beijing levied official tariffs and unofficial trade barriers estimated to have cost Australian exporters up to $20 billion a year for commodities such as coal, wine, beef, barley and lobsters.
