Hay-licence problems are just the latest in a series of trade difficulties resulting from the war of words that erupted one year ago between Canberra and Beijing over the coronavirus origin.
China and Australia have been locked in a trade dispute for the past year that shows little sign of easing, raising questions about whether the trading relationship can be restored.
With China having imposed anti-dumping duties of up to 218.4 per cent on Australian wine, some exporters are being forced to diversify away from the once-lucrative industry.
Following their 2015 trade agreement, most of Australia’s rock lobster supply started going to China, but ‘re-engaging old markets again will take time’ after they were ‘ignored’ for years.
Smaller Australian exporters of products like lobster will struggle to quickly find alternative markets to China, analysts say, but iron ore miners have little to be concerned about due to the nation’s outsize role in the global iron ore trade.
Trade is only one aspect of the current dispute between China and Australia, according to Bryan Mercurio, a professor of law at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who is a specialist in international economic law. Mercurio, who has legal expertise related to the World Trade Organization (WTO), tells the political economy correspondent Su-Lin Tan that he expects tensions to escalate before the two governments are able to cool things down and work towards a resolution.
Australia has taken its dispute over China’s anti-dumping duties imposed on its barley to the World Trade Organization, but the issue could still take years to resolve, meaning importers and consumers will be the ones who ultimately suffer.
