Australia is positioning itself as a military adversary to China rather than an economic partner by signing a new security pact for the Indo-Pacific that is expected to trigger further trade retaliation from Beijing, analysts say.

While China was unlikely to retaliate immediately with new bans on Australian exports, the Morrison government’s UK-US security pact would have long-term ramifications for the country’s $150-billion-a-year export trade with the world’s second-largest economy.