Australia to ‘robustly’ contest China World Trade Organisation complaint

Australia will fight back after China’s latest salvo in the ongoing trade war between the two countries.

Australia will “robustly defend” itself after Beijing lodged a formal complaint against Canberra at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Trade Minister says.

China has responded to a series of complaints over its devastating tariffs slapped on Australian products, formally accusing Canberra of competitive behaviour over two trade tariffs.

The tariffs were imposed in 2014 and 2015, but China’s response came just a week after Australia launched a similar move against crippling Chinese tariffs on wine.

Trade Minister Dan Tehan would not be drawn on whether the move was a retaliation but said such disputes were typically raised between countries before escalating to full-blown WTO disputes.

“We didn’t see that happen with regards to this case. But the actual reasons for this, you would have to ask the Chinese government,” he told the ABC on Friday.

Dan Tehan says Australia will ‘robustly defend’ itself against China’s WTO complaint. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicole Cleary

He confirmed Australia would challenge the complaint, which related to tariffs it imposed on railway wheels, wind towers, and stainless steel sink exports.

“We obey the WTO rules; we take them seriously. They’ve stood us in great stead as a nation,” he told the ABC on Friday.

“So, we will obviously take up the consultations with China on this dispute. We’re happy at officials’ level to discuss it with them and also at ministerial level.

“But we will robustly defend this case.”

But the prospect of dialogue between Canberra and Beijing appears slim, around six months since Chinese officials stopped picking up the phone to their Australian counterparts.

Beijing has consistently accused Australia of undermining bilateral ties and was angered by Canberra’s call for an independent inquiry into the origins of Covid-19.

“It is hoped that the Australian side could take concrete measures to rectify its wrongdoings, avoid confrontational measures and bring the two nations’ trade ties back to normal track as soon as possible,” Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng was quoted as saying in state media on Thursday.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison in June said Australia would not “trade away its values” in any talks with China and was “not prepared to concede” on a list of 14 grievances leaked by Beijing.

But Mr Tehan insisted Canberra wanted “constructive engagement” with Beijing, saying the trade relationship had maintained a high standard of living in Australia while lifting “millions out of poverty in China”.

“We say all the time that we want to sit down and work through these disputes. There might be things we can’t agree to, but the best thing is dialogue,” he said.

But Mr Tehan conceded a letter he sent to his Chinese counterpart in January, outlining areas in which the pair could work, had so far been ignored.