Australian Wine Industry Revives... "China Drafts Plan to Remove Retaliatory Tariffs"

China and Australia Wineries Key Markets
Anti-Dumping Duties Imposed on Australian Wine in 2021

China has announced a provisional proposal to lift retaliatory tariffs on Australian wine.

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According to major foreign media on the 12th, Australia's global wine company Treasury Wine Estates stated through a stock exchange disclosure that "a final decision will be made within a few weeks." Earlier, Xiao Qian, the Chinese Ambassador to Australia, also said regarding this matter, "The review of wine tariffs is moving in the right direction on the right track." Since the inauguration of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese two years ago, China has been improving relations with Australia by successively lifting various restrictive measures.

Since March 2021, China has imposed anti-dumping tariffs of up to 218% on Australian wine. This was a retaliatory measure following Australia's 2018 ban on Huawei's participation in China's 5G network and its 2020 demand for an international investigation into the origins of COVID-19. At that time, the Chinese government imposed various restrictive measures on Australian products ranging from coal to beef and lobster.

China is a key market for Australian wineries. Alex Xu, director of Royal Star Wine, an Australian wine exporter, said, "Before the trade issues, we exported the equivalent of 150 containers of wine annually," adding, "Now we export about 10 containers to countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, and India, but these markets are not as profitable as China." If the retaliatory wine tariffs are lifted, it is expected to help revive the Australian wine industry and serve as an opportunity to end China's punitive trade measures against Australia.

Don Farrell, Australia's Minister for Trade, said in a statement, "This justifies the government's approach to resolving trade issues through dialogue rather than disputes."