CANBERRA – China has released an interim proposal to lift the punitive tariffs imposed on Australian wine, Treasury Wine Estates said in an exchange filing on March 12.
The final decision will be made in the “coming weeks”, according to a statement from the Australian winemaker, which was impacted by the tariffs imposed three years ago.
Australia’s Trade Minister Don Farrell welcomed the interim recommendation to remove tariffs.
“It vindicates the government’s preferred approach of resolving trade issues through dialogue rather than disputation,” Mr Farrell said in a statement.
Canberra continues to push “for all remaining trade impediments to be removed”, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.
Removing the import taxes would help revive a billion dollar Australian market and put an end to Beijing’s years-long campaign of punitive trade actions to try to influence policy in Canberra.
The Ministry of Commerce in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request to confirm the interim report.
The statement made by Penfolds owner Treasury Wine marks the latest positive sign that up to 218 per cent tariffs on imports of Australian wine that China imposed in March 2021 are nearing an end.
With the lifting of the wine tariffs now highly likely, China is on the brink of ending its trade campaign against Australia.
Chinese Ambassador Xiao Qian this week said “things are moving on right tracks with the right direction” on the wine tariff review. In February, Mr Farrell made similar remarks.
The wine tariffs were part of a series of trade curbs to punish Canberra for calls by then-prime minister Scott Morrison for an international probe into the origins of Covid-19.
Australia withstood the backlash from its largest trading partner, even as the specific industries targeted were hurt.
Australia managed to ride out the trade tensions with effectively no public concessions to Beijing, raising questions over the effectiveness of China’s effort.
As for wine exporters in Australia, they said before the tariffs were lifted that it would take time for trade to return to normal.
Mr Alex Xu, director of the Royal Star Wine Company, said China’s market was crucial for Australian vintners.
“Before the trading issue we exported 150 cases of wine a year,” he said. “Now we only export 10 containers to other countries like Vietnam, Cambodia and India. But these markets aren’t as profitable as the Chinese market.” BLOOMBERG
