ExplainerChina-Australia trade: what’s the state of relations after 3 years of ups and downs?

Name: Australian trade minister visits China, 'hopeful' for trade resolution
Uploaded: 2023-06-02T20:00:10.000Z
Duration: 1 min 47 s
Description: Australian trade minister visits China, 'hopeful' for trade resolution

Relations soured in 2020 after Canberra asked for a probe into the origin of the coronavirus and Beijing fired back with unofficial bans on Australian products

But the tide appears to have turned, with two recent trade-minister meetings and a relaxation of import curbs

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Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell with Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao in Beijing in May. Photo: DFAT via AP)

Andrew Mullen

Published: 4:00am, 3 Jun 2023Updated: 5:10am, 3 Jun 2023

After no in-person talks since 2019, the trade ministers from China and Australia met twice in May, highlighting how relations between Beijing and Canberra continue to thaw after years of frosty diplomatic wrangling.

Australian Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell first travelled to Beijing for a meeting with Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao on May 12 before the pair reunited in the US city of Detroit during an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting later in the month.

Relations between China and Australia turned sour in 2020 after the then-Morrison administration asked for a probe into the origin of the coronavirus with other world leaders.

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Australian trade minister visits China, 'hopeful' for trade resolution

Beijing responded with unofficial bans on Australian products, including lobsters, coal, cotton and logs, while it also imposed official import tariffs on wine and barley.

Relations have since improved, starting with a meeting between President Xi Jinping and new Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in November on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Indonesia.

But what is the state of play in relations between Australia and its largest trading partner?

Wine

China officially imposed duties of between 116.2 per cent and 218.4 per cent on Australian wines in containers of up to two litres in March 2021 after concluding anti-dumping investigations.