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China, Australia reach deal to resolve barley tariff dispute as Canberra suspends WTO case
China to review anti-dumping, anti-subsidy tariffs on Australian barley
- China’s commerce ministry said on Friday it will review the necessity of continuing to impose anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs on imported Australia barley
- Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said this week that Australia would suspend a case at the World Trade Organization over duties, while China hastens a review
China’s commerce ministry said on Friday it will review the necessity of continuing to impose anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs on imported Australia barley from Saturday, with the survey to be completed within a year.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Tuesday that Australia would suspend a case at the World Trade Organization over duties on barley, while China hastens a review into the tariffs.
Wong said China had agreed to carry out an “expedited review” of the duties over three or four months.
The commerce ministry statement said interested parties to the review could submit comments and evidence within the coming 20 days, and that the review should end before April 15, 2024.
The duties were originally due to expire in May 2025.
Beijing had originally imposed trade tariffs and other blocks in 2020 on a range of Australian exports, including barley, wine and coal, in the wake of calls by then-prime minister Scott Morrison for an international investigation into the origins of Covid-19.
Relations had been worsening even before that and plummeted after the comments by Morrison and the then foreign minister.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
