Trade group aims to blunt China practices

Former top US official urges Australia to consider joining a trilateral coalition pushing back at Chinese protectionism.

Wendy Cutler is part of a delegation of former international trade officials touring Australia next week.

Former top US official Wendy Cutler has urged Australia to conside­r joining a trilateral coal­ition involving the US, Japan and the EU pushing back at Chinese protectionism, ahead of a meeting with Trade Minister Simon Birmingham next week.

The coalition aims to take on distortions created by state-­sponsored enterprises, strict data rules and other gripes the countrie­s have with China’s ­trading practices and also push for reform of the World Trade Org­an­is­ation, which the US is accused of attempting to undermine. Ms Cutler, part of an Asia Society dele­gation of former international trade officials touring Australia next week, said joining the group could also help discourage Washington­’s isolationism.

“(The group is) doing good work and, frankly, if our trading partners want the United States to come back into the multilateral fold, I think it’s import­ant that other countries with concerns that would benefit from this work join the US, EU and Japan in bolsterin­g these efforts,” she told The Weekend Australian.

“Sitting on the sidelines of this work and then getting the benefits but also having the same concerns seems a little strange to me.

“The US should be encouraged to go (towards multilateralism) … having other countries join would be useful.”

US President Donald Trump has set a March 1 deadline for China to comply with US condit­ions and seal a deal with Washington before US tariffs on Chinese imports rise from 10 per cent to 25 per cent. In his State of the Union address this week, Mr Trump said a trade deal needed to include “real structural change to end unfair trade practices, reduce our trade deficit and protect American jobs”.

Writing today in The Weekend Australi­an, former Aust­ralian trade official Alan Oxley says the timeline set by the US is too tight and is likely to be extended. Ms Cutler acknowledged that industry and agricultural groups in countries which traded with China may be concerned about a possible inclusion in the deal that commits Beijing to purchase a certai­n amount of a particular commodity.

But she suggested Australia should not be so concerned, as there were broader benefits to a deal, such as an increase in global economic certainty and benefits for Australian businesses if Beijing were to yield on intellectual proper­ty and technology transfer.