China’s decision to remove tariffs on Australian barley and to once again include Australia on the country’s list of approved outgoing group travel destinations, has things pointing in the right direction for a favourable decision around the tariffs currently imposed on Australian wine.
China has imposed ‘anti-dumping’ tariffs on Australian wine since 2020, which has taken a huge toll on many wine producers here. It’s a similar timeframe for Australian barley, and Minister Farrell said that the pathway to resolution that was agreed with China, which saw Australia suspend its World Trade Organisation dispute over barley while China conducted an expedited review of the measures, is one that could work for wine as well.
After China announced the decision to remove barley tariffs, the Minister said: “We will continue to press for remaining trade impediments affecting Australian exports to be removed, which is in the interests of both Australia and China. We are continuing to pursue our wine dispute at the WTO and remain confident in a positive outcome.”
Speaking to Sky News, Minister Farrell was asked if the decisions on barley and group travel will pave the way for wine tariffs to be removed: “I very sincerely hope so,” he said.
He added: “We’ve made it very clear that the template that we used for the lifting of tariffs on barley, would be a suitable one for dealing with the wine issue. We are prepared at any stage to suspend our World Trade Organisation application, in respect of wine, in return for an early re-examination by the Chinese of these 220 per cent tariffs.
“Everything has been heading in the right direction since I met with my counterpart back in May. A whole host of minerals had food products have now gone back into the Chinese market, but there is still more work to be done. We want to get wine back in, we want to get lobsters back in, a number of Australian meat producers can’t get their products in, so there is still more work to be done, but the decision in respect of barley and the decision to give us favoured nation status for Chinese tourists to come to Australia, I think, are both pointing in the right direction.
“We have engaged with the Chinese Government, we have continued to maintain our position on national security and national interest, but the way you solve these problems that we have in respect of our relationship with China is through discussion and dialogue, and that’s why we have got to the point we have got to at the moment.”