WTO establishes panel to review Beijing’s barley duties at the request of Australia regarding Chinese anti-dumping
Geneva: Australia has scored a brownie point over China in the ongoing trade war between the two nations at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
China had last year imposed trade restrictions on Australian coal, wine, meat and barley, that have affected a dozen key Australian industries; and on May 6, 2021, China had “indefinitely” suspended economic dialogue with Australia, accusing it of having a “Cold War mindset”.
At a meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the WTO on May 28, 2021, its members agreed to the establishment of a new dispute panel at the request of Australia regarding Chinese anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Australian barley.
Australia’s request was blocked by China at the last DSB meeting on April 28, 2021. However, Australia submitted its second request for a panel to determine whether China’s decision to impose anti-dumping and countervailing duties on imports of barley from Australia was consistent with WTO rules.
Australia noted that China is imposing anti-dumping duties of 73.6% and countervailing duties of 6.9% on Australian barley, and that consultations held on 28 January of this year and subsequent exchanges of information failed to resolve the matter. As no concrete steps have been taken by China to respond to Australia’s concerns, Australia said it is again requesting the establishment of a panel. Australia reiterated that it values its strong economic and community ties with China and remained open to further discussions with China on the matter.
China said it would vigorously defend itself in the proceedings and was confident that the duty measures would be found consistent with WTO requirements. China added that it was open to continued talks with Australia on the matter with the aim of reaching a positive outcome.
The DSB agreed to the establishment of the panel. Canada, the European Union, the United States, India, Russia, Singapore, Norway, the United Kingdom, Japan, New Zealand, Brazil and Ukraine reserved their rights to participate as third parties in the proceedings.
It may be mentioned that while China was Australia’s biggest trading partner, accounting for 29 per cent of Australia’s trade with the world in 2019, the relations between the two were constantly on the decline ever since Australia called for a probe into the origins of COVID-19and banned Huawei from building its 5G network. Chinese investment in Australia plummeted 61% in 2020, which was the lowest in six years, the Australian National University’s Chinese Investment in Australia Database showed.
– global bihari bureau
