Trade Minister Don Farrell’s bid to end China row
Don Farrell will push to meet his Chinese counterpart to break damaging two-year trade war against Australian exporters.
Trade Minister Don Farrell will issue an invitation to meet with his Chinese counterpart to try to break the damaging two-year trade war against Australian exporters, amid heightened geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Canberra.
Senator Farrell will also seek to revitalise talks for a European free-trade agreement with some EU countries, citing Labor’s more closely aligned climate change targets as removing a previous stumbling block to negotiations.
In an exclusive interview with The Weekend Australian ahead of travelling to Europe for a meeting of the World Trade Organisation, Senator Farrell said he would be offering to meet with China’s Commerce Minister, Wang Wentao.
If agreed, it would be the first senior-level meeting between Australian and Chinese officials since the diplomatic freeze imposed in 2020 and the issuing of Beijing’s list of 14 grievances against Australia following the Morrison government’s push for an inquiry into the origins of Covid-19.
However, the starting point of any meeting would be that Australia’s position on China’s unwarranted actions had not changed.
Anthony Albanese has claimed that there could be no restoration of relations until China dropped its trade sanctions against Australia.
“China is our largest trading partner,” Senator Farrell said. “Both sides have benefited from our economic ties.
“I look forward to an early opportunity to engage with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.”
Australia’s defiance of China’s economic coercion has been closely watched by other countries, with Canberra’s position widely regarded as a benchmark for dealing with China’s aggressive actions.
Senator Farrell will travel to Geneva next week for a meeting of the WTO, where Canberra has lodged formal complaints with the governing global trade body against Beijing for its sanctions on Australian wine and barley.
The Prime Minister said this week he would put trade and investment at the top of his priorities for his regional and international agenda, but he said Australia also needed to diversify its trade relationships with China, which until recently accounted for 45 per cent of the nation’s total trade.
Senator Farrell said he would put free-trade agreements with Europe and India among Australia’s top trade priorities for the new Labor government.
He will meet European officials next week to progress negotiations on a European FTA, which had stalled because of Europe’s concerns about the Morrison government’s softer climate change targets and the diplomatic stoush with France over cancelled submarines.
Senator Farrell said as Labor’s emissions-reduction targets was more aligned with Europe’s, he expected negotiations that began in 2018 to be put back on track and accelerated to an outcome.
“During my visit to Europe, I look forward to meeting my EU counterparts to energise our free-trade agreement negotiations,” Senator Farrell said.
“The EU has publicly welcomed the Australian government’s commitment to taking ambitious action on climate change and said this commitment will help to finalise the agreement.
“The EU FTA will open valuable export opportunities for Australia – as a bloc, the EU is a $US15 trillion economy of 450 million people.”
Senator Farrell said he would also seek early meetings with Indian counterparts on moving to a comprehensive free-trade agreement. “Australia is committed to boosting our trade relationship with India and following through on the Australia-India Economic Co-operation and Trade Agreement,” Senator Farrell said.
“I’m looking forward to working with my Indian counterpart to further this relationship, including under the comprehensive strategic partnership.
“We are looking forward to commencing negotiations on a comprehensive free-trade agreement in the coming weeks to address, among other things, deeper market access for goods and services and cross cutting issues such as co-operation and digital trade.”
Mr Albanese, while speaking on trade in Jakarta this week, said China’s trade sanctions against Australia must be lifted before relations could be improved between the two countries.
He signalled the federal government’s priority to diversify economic and trade links, identifying Indonesia as a key partner, to reduce Australia’s reliance on trade with China. Senator Farrell said diversification of trade relationships was central to Australia’s future trading relationships.
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