China-Australia relations: Beijing says Canberra ‘distorting trade of goods’, in new WTO complaint

Canberra says it was surprised by China’s complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO), which concerns anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties imposed by Australia years ago

Move by China comes after Canberra last week lodged a WTO complaint against China’s moves targeting Australian wine exports

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Canberra and Beijing have been locked in a tit-for-tat conflict since April 2020, and bilateral relations have deteriorated to their lowest point in decades. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 4:28pm, 24 Jun 2021Updated: 5:22pm, 25 Jun 2021

China has lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against Australia for its anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on imports of Chinese railway wheels, wind towers and stainless steel sink products.

The move by China came after Australia’s contesting last week of anti-dumping duties imposed by China on wine exports, which had followed an earlier complaint over China’s anti-dumping and countervailing duties imposed on Australian barley exports.

Canberra and Beijing have been locked in a tit-for-tat conflict since April 2020, and bilateral relations have deteriorated to their lowest point in decades.

China’s Ministry of Commerce confirmed its complaint filing on Thursday afternoon, saying the duties imposed or extended across those products in 2014, 2015 and 2019 have violated the WTO’s trading rules and anti-dumping and anti-subsidy regulations.

Anti-dumping duties are tools in the protectionist trade policy armoury, and duties are generally designed to make imported goods more expensive than similar products produced domestically.

“China opposes the abuse of trade-remedy measures, as this not only harms the rights and interests of Chinese companies but also undermines the seriousness and authority of WTO rules,” ministry spokesman Gao Feng said at a press conference.

“We hope that, by raising Australia’s relevant anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures using the WTO’s dispute-settlement mechanism, it will not only safeguard the rights and interests of Chinese enterprises but also safeguard the effectiveness of the multilateral trading system and the WTO.

“We hope Australia will take concrete actions to correct its wrong practices, avoid distorting the trade of goods, and return trade back to normal as soon as possible.”