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China lodges complaint with WTO against Australia over trade tariffs Beijing complains to WTO over Australia’s ‘wrong practices,’ citing historic moves against Chinese products
(about 3 hours later)
The Chinese commerce ministry said on Thursday that Beijing has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Australia’s anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures on three products. China has made an appeal to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over historic duties introduced by Australia concerning three Chinese products as part of a crackdown on unfair trade practices, including dumping.
Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said that Beijing would now appeal against Australia’s duties on imports of railway wheels, wind towers and stainless-steel sinks. Speaking on Thursday, Gao Feng, a Chinese commerce ministry spokesman, said that Beijing would be appealing against Australian measures which added additional duties to imports of Chinese railway wheels, wind towers, and stainless-steel sinks. 
“(China) hopes that the Australian side will take concrete action to correct the wrong practices and avoid distortions to the trade of related products, so that trade will return to a normal track as soon as possible,” Gao said.“(China) hopes that the Australian side will take concrete action to correct the wrong practices and avoid distortions to the trade of related products, so that trade will return to a normal track as soon as possible,” Gao said.
China’s complaint comes after Canberra said earlier this week it would appeal to the WTO over Beijing’s decision to impose tariffs on Australian wine. Australia’s trade minister, Dan Tehan, said Canberra was surprised by the Chinese move, noting that they had not received any prior notification of China’s appeal to the WTO.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Trade Minister Dan Tehan said that Canberra had been taken by surprise by China’s appeal. “The normal course of events would be that you would get some notification of their concerns about the measures we put in place through the relevant WTO committee or through officials raising it through bilateral channels,” he told reporters in Canberra, adding that this had not happened. 
“The normal course of events would be that you would get some notification of their concerns about the measures we put in place through the relevant WTO committee or through officials raising it through bilateral channels,” he told reporters, adding: “We haven't seen any of that.” “Why have they taken this action now?” Tehan also asked, noting that the duties were imposed a number of years ago, with the three measures introduced in 2014, 2015, and 2019.
Tehan also questioned why China had taken so long to lodge its appeal when Australia imposed two of the three duties in 2014 and 2015, with the third in 2019. “Why have they taken this action now?” he said. The measures were brought in to counter alleged practices of dumping, where the cost in the foreign market is cheaper than the producer’s own domestic market, and subsidies which gave Chinese firms an unfair advantage over Australian competitors.
Australia imposed duties totaling 10.9% on Beijing’s wind towers, 17.4% on railway wheels and up to 60.2% on stainless-steel sinks from China. Relations between the two nations are at their worst in decades. Canberra has already appealed to the WTO about two China measures which added substantial duties on Australian wine and barley. Canberra has described China’s actions as “economic coercion.”
Last week Australia complained to the WTO concerning crippling Chinese duties introduced in 2020 on Australian wine. China claims the wine was being sold below cost price. 
Economic tensions between China and Australia have escalated in recent years, after Australia began cracking down on Chinese investment in the country. Relations deteriorated further after Australia banned Chinese telecoms Huawei and ZTE from its 5G rollout. Tensions were raised again last year, when Australia called for an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak, prompting accusations from Beijing that Australian lawmakers were acting on orders from Washington. Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s call for an independent investigation into the origins of Covid-19 saw relations sour further in 2020.
In response, China has imposed trade tariffs on a variety of Australian goods, including coal, barley, wine, beef, and lobster. Australia has already appealed to the WTO over China’s decision to impose tariffs on its barley imports. Like this story? Share it with a friend!
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