Resources Minister Rejects Senator’s Call to Impose Counter Tariff on Chinese Iron Ore Exports
Federal Resources and Water Minister Keith Pitt has dismissed a suggestion from Nationals Senator Matt Canavan to impose a one percent tariff on Chinese iron ore exports as a counter to ongoing trade sanctions from Beijing.
According to Canavan, a counteractive duty would generate over $800 million a year. Canavan suggests this money could then be used to compensate other Australian industries harmed by the trade disruptions.
“[E]very time China takes further action against Australian exporters, the levy would go up. We could signal that the levy would be removed if China ended its unjustified trade restrictions,” Canavan wrote in The Australian on Monday.
China Trade Tactics Will Backfire: Expert
China could live to regret its economic trade tactics against Australia, an expert warns, as the trade dispute between the two countries plummets to new lows with further bans on Australian products expected.
Prof. James Laurenceson, a China expert from the University of Technology Sydney, has said there is no question that the more restrictions the Chinese regime imposes onto Australian exports the more risks Beijing injects into trade ties with Australia.
“In the longer term, it generates the exact opposite outcome to what the country inflicting the punishment might be hoping for,” Laurenceson said.”This is why disrupting trade is so counter-productive whether its China, the US, or any other country doing the disrupting.”
Foreign investment clampdown prompts claims of Chinese buyers being frozen out
SunSunday 13
Experts say tightening Chinese investment in Australia will not help the current trade problems.
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Efforts by Chinese companies to buy Australian assets are being left to languish or rejected under temporary restrictions to foreign investment that experts claim are further aggravating relations between Canberra and Beijing.
Key points:
From December 31, foreign buyers will face even more scrutiny when bidding for sensitive assets
Experts say restrictions are being used to screen out bids by Chinese companies and are counterproductive to trade relations
Foreign Investment Advisory Australia director Lachlan Molesworth, a former advisor to Scott Morrison while he was Treasurer, said the Government was within its rights to tailor foreign investment rules to the national interest.