Australian Commerce Minister Hopes to Solve Trade Issues During Beijing Visit

Commerce Minister Don Farrell said he would meet China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao in Beijing and "strongly advocate for the full resumption of Australia's seamless exports to China - for all sectors - for the benefit of both countries and for the benefit of Australian exporters and manufacturers." 

Both sides have shown goodwill, but more needs to be done, he told reporters at the Beijing Capital Airport.

“Nothing will do more to achieve peace in our region than a strong trade relationship between Australia and China,” he said.

Speaking later during a round table at the Australian Embassy with representatives of the Australian Chambers of Commerce in China, Farrell called for "perseverance" to address trade issues.

“The problems we had to deal with didn’t happen overnight, and we’re not going to solve them overnight, but we are working on it,” he said.

China is Australia's largest trading partner, with A$287 billion ($195 billion) worth of bilateral merchandise trade in 2022, dominated by iron ore exports that China cannot easily replace. However, the Australian Commerce Minister has not visited China since 2019.

China's Commerce Ministry said Farrell would stay until Saturday, adding that it hoped the visit would further solidify the "important consensus" reached between the two heads of state at the G20 meeting in Bali last November.

"China looks forward to exchanging views on developing bilateral economic and trade relations and moving relations forward," Ministry spokesman Shu Jiueting said at a briefing.

The ministers will also chair the Joint Ministerial Economic Commission, which first met in 1986 but has been suspended since 2017 when relations between the countries began to deteriorate over diplomatic disputes.

Exports of Australian wine, beef, barley, coal, seafood and timber to China have been hit by trade restrictions in 2020, and Australian journalist Cheng Lei has been detained in Beijing on charges of endangering national security after Australia called for an international inquiry into the origins of COVID - 19 . 19 . 19, which angered Beijing.

Earlier, Canberra banned Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from its 5G network due to national security concerns.

Diplomatic tensions have eased since Australia elected a Labor government in May 2022 . But there has been no change in the policy of screening foreign investment for national security reasons, and the defense shakeup announced last month will bring Australia closer to its security alliance partner the United States.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in an interview on British television last week that his government "did not use inflammatory rhetoric" against Beijing.

Last month, Australia suspended a complaint about Chinese barley tariffs to the World Trade Organization as the WTO commission had to report its findings, giving China time to revise the 80.5% tariff imposed in 2020.

"The Australian Government is pleased with several positive developments in trade, including the resumption of trade in coal, cotton and copper, and China's agreement to conduct an accelerated review of duties on Australian barley," Farrell said.

Australia exported about $40 million worth of copper ore and concentrate to China earlier this year, the first export month since 2020, according to Australian customs data.