Wine tariffs dropped ‘by end of month’ as China expects trade relationship to ‘be put back on track’

Anthony Albanese says the move comes following an interim determination by the Chinese government and as our trade relationship with China is hoped to be put ‘back on track’.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese touring Magill Estate with Don Farrell. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Anthony Albanese has told Australians to expect an end to Chinese wine tariffs by the end of March following an interim determination by the Chinese government.

The decision comes ahead of a visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday.

“What that means is more jobs for South Australians. What that means is more jobs for people throughout regional Australia which is where the wine industry is based,” the Prime Minister said in an Adelaide press conference on Saturday.

“The wine industry isn’t just about the production of wine, it’s a critical factor in tourism and attracting people to wonderful sites in the Barossa and Clare and McLaren Vale here in South Australia and in other parts of Australia.

“We want to make sure the wine industry can benefit from the stabilisation of the relationship just as the barley industry, resource exports, (and) meat industry greatly benefit from the stabilisation of the relationship.”

The Australian wine industry is valued at $45 billion.

Aussie wine is the best in the world, and more people buying it overseas means more jobs here.

China has made an interim determination that duties on Australian wine can be removed. We expect that to happen by the end of this month. pic.twitter.com/RWIZPOFUUb

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) March 16, 2024

“We will host the foreign minister in Canberra in the coming week and we look forward to having further discussion,” Mr Albanese said.

“Australia will benefit from the economic activity that removal of these impediments will bring. China will benefit by getting access to the wonderful Australian wines and so this is a win-win and I look forward to that decision coming in the next couple of weeks.”

The PM signposted more than $1.1 billion in economic benefits from an end to tariffs, claiming that small growers who relied on foreign sales would see the most tangible benefits.

“(The Chinese government has) handed down (its) interim decision. The final decision is just days or weeks away at the most, given we’re more than halfway through March now,” Mr Albanese said on Channel Seven.

“It will be really positive and it will just be a shot in the arm for this industry. There’s been pretty good crops in the last couple of years as well, so the supply is certainly there.

“What the wine sector was telling us is that for many of the smaller wineries in particular, they were under pressure for their very survival. This decision will make an enormous difference.”

The Prime Minister spoke ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers which could put the Australian-Chinese trade ­relationship “back on track”, with the Albanese government to press Beijing on sanctions still in place on beef and lobster.

Ahead of what will be the sixth meeting between Foreign Minister Penny Wong and her counterpart Wang Yi on Wednesday, the state-owned Global Times newspaper reported on the expectations for steps to be made between the two countries on trade.

“During Wang’s Australia visit, the topic of trade tariffs is ­expected to be raised, Chinese ­analysts believe,” the article said.

“This visit will help bring the trade relationship between the two countries back on track.”

It comes after the World Trade Organisation this week handed down an interim recommendation for the tariffs on Australian wine to be lifted.

“Since the two heads of state met in Bali in November 2022, the trend for more constructive and mutual beneficial relations has been continually pushed forward under the efforts of both sides,” the Global Times said. However, tensions are expected to rise during the meeting in Canberra over the Communist Party’s jailing of Chinese-Australian pro-democracy academic Yang Hengjun, who was handed a suspended death sentence in ­February.

Senator Wong is set to raise Australia’s longstanding opposition to the death penalty in the meeting – which will be the first face-to-face between the foreign ministers since Dr Yang was handed his sentence last month – along with other human rights concerns relating to Uyghurs and the situation in Hong Kong.

Mr Wang is to land in Australia on Tuesday night before he and his delegation – which includes about 10 other officials – meet with their Australian counterparts on Wednesday.

The Chinese delegation will then fly to Sydney to meet community groups and businesses, as requested by Mr Wang.

The conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East will also be discussed, along with Australia’s ­desire for the status quo in Taiwan to be maintained.

Mr Wang’s visit will be the first by a Chinese foreign minister in seven years and is seen by both countries as another step in stabilising the relationship.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said Labor also needed to raise its concerns about recent Chinese naval operations off The Philippines and an incident that injured Australian navy divers.

“We need to see the Albanese government take up, very seriously, Australia’s concerns about the way Chinese naval operations are undertaken across our region that are destabilising, that are provocative, and that have seen conflict occur in terms of clashes between Chinese boats and those of The Philippines and the dangerous actions that we saw putting Australian naval personnel on HMAS Toowoomba in jeopardy,” he said.

“There is much to be addressed. There are serious issues to be addressed with China during a foreign minister’s visit.”

The Prime Minister also urged against fear mongering in the coverage of immigration detainees released following the NZYQ High Court Decision.

“The High Court decision, of course, was one not of our making. It was one done in spite of the government’s opposition to it,” he said on Channel Seven.

“But no government is above the law and we’ve had to respond to it. We are ensuring that people are kept safe and we’re putting in place appropriate measures to ensure community safety.

“What isn’t appropriate is the promotion of fear in the community. The community can be very conscious of the fact that the Government is using everything at our disposal to ensure community safety is in place.”

Deputy Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley was criticised by the Prime Minister and other members of cabinet in the lead-up to the Dunkley by-election

In a tweet from February 29 she told users to “vote against Labor” if they have a “problem with Victorian women being assaulted by foreign criminals”. Her comment came after Peter Dutton cited in Question Time the arrest of a former detainee in Victoria, which was later found to be a wrongful arrest.

The PM would later characterise this as a “fear campaign” endemic to the Opposition.