Lobster comeback is another sign of diplomatic thaw

The return of the Australian lobster to the China market is a reminder of the promises inherent in trade deals and an antidote to the constant sabre-rattling of the superpowers.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese struck a deal with Chinese Premier Li Qiang to reopen exports of live lobsters on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Laos, bringing to a near end China’s $20 billion trade embargo on Australian exports.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.Credit: @AlboMP

Unravelling domestic issues may be nipping at his heels, but restoration of the China trade is one of Albanese’s happier achievements. Relations between the two nations had been frosty for at least four years but warmed after Albanese pursued a policy of “stabilisation” with China. Eleven months ago, he became the first prime minister to visit Beijing since Malcolm Turnbull in 2016.

Before that, damaging political posturing in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic had undermined trade deals between Australia and China, and China and the United States. President Donald Trump wedged international agreements pursuing a more protectionist economic agenda and railed about China’s handling and reporting of the coronavirus. After the Morrison government locked step with Trump in 2020 and proposed an independent, international inquiry into the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China enacted economic revenge by imposing punishing tariffs on our barley exports.

China then accused Australia of dumping wine, cotton growers complained about edicts apparently demanding China’s domestic mills cease Australian purchases, and tonnes of Australian lobster were left to swelter and rot on Shanghai’s airport tarmac. Later came import restrictions on coal, timber and meat.

The economic sanctions rocked the Australia-China trade relationship, delivering financial blows to industries and businesses heavily reliant on the Chinese market, and leaving them scrambling to diversify and find alternative countries for exports.

Lobster fisheries in South Australia and Torres Strait were particularly hit. More than 90 per cent of the Australian rock lobster trade was exported to China before the trade restrictions, worth about $770 million. However, the ban resulted in a spike in Australian exports to nearby markets, including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam, and there were reports of a flourishing of black market trade in China to circumvent the embargo.

Australia’s lobster exports were the last agricultural commodity to be kept barred from the Chinese market. However, two of our beef exporters remain suspended for technical reasons.

There is a possibility that growing rapprochement between Australia and China may be jeopardised by next month’s US presidential election result.

Republican candidate Trump conflates sabre-rattling with trade threats and accuses China of unfair trade practices and stealing American jobs. He’s proposed a 10 per cent tariff and suggested slapping duties of 60 per cent plus on Chinese imports, presumably even on his printed in China God Bless the USA Bibles.

That path invites Chinese revenge. We could suffer collateral damage. But for Australia for the moment, the lobster’s return represents a further welcome thawing in the relationship between our two countries.

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