Australian Prime Minister Expects ‘Resolution’ on Beijing Wine Tariff

An employee works as Australian-made wine (on display shelves on right) at a store in Beijing on Aug. 18, 2020, the same day that the Chinese regime ramped up tensions with Australia after it launched a probe into wine imports from the country. Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images

Australian wine exports to Beijing may finally be able to resume in the near future, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese believes.

In 2020, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) imposed tariffs of up to 212 percent on Australian wine, along with trade barriers on a range of other products including beef, lobster, and barley.

Mr. Albanese indicated wine will flow back into China in the near future during an interview in Adelaide on Jan. 17.

“I expect a resolution that will allow for wine to be back into China very soon. I have indicated very clearly when I was in China that that is in Australia’s interest, but it’s also in China’s interests,” he said.

“You know why? Because it’s bloody good wine. It’s a good product. Australia produces good products at good prices and it is in the world’s interests to receive them. It’s certainly in Australia’s interests for those jobs to be created.”

In October, Australia and the CCP agreed to pause a World Trade Organisation dispute over the wine tariffs while Beijing conducted an “expediated review” that is expected to last several months.

Albanese Reveals Government Confident on Wine Tariffs

In Adelaide on Jan. 17, Mr. Albanese expressed confidence the review will end by the end of March and confirmed the Australian government has spoken directly to the CCP.

“We want to make sure that that market is reopened up, that the tariffs are reduced. We had discussions very directly with China about that. The review will conclude by the end of March and we’re very confident that that will see a benefit to Australia,” Mr. Albanese said.

“We’ve already seen such an enormous difference that it’s making to our trade, and I pay tribute to Don Farrell, a great South Australian Trade Minister, for the difference that he has made.”

South Australia is known for its wine regions in the Barossa, McLaren Vale, Clare Valley, and Adelaide Hills.

One famous Adelaide wine is Penfolds, owned by Australian Stock Exchange listed Treasury Wine Estates (TWE).

In October, Treasury Wine Estates welcomed an “expediated review” of tariffs on Australian wine imports into China.

The company said it plans to “rebuild its business in China” if tariffs are removed, including rebuilding distribution of Penfolds luxury portfolios in China.

“Should tariffs be removed, these measures will be implemented sustainably and with the aim of growing the business in China, but not at the expense of the long-term growth opportunity in other key markets,” the company said in an ASX announcement (pdf).

“TWE is well placed to rebuild its business in China, should tariffs be removed at the end of the review period, through a series of plans which would be implemented progressively over time.”

Tariffs Never Justified: Opposition

In response to the news of potential lifting of the duties, Opposition Foreign Affairs spokesperson Simon Birmingham said on Oct. 22 the “tariffs should never have been put in place in the first place.”

“It was an attempted economic coercion by China. The tariffs were never justified,” he said during an interview with ABC Insiders.

The communist regime also slapped an 80.5 percent tariff on Australian barley in 2020. This was removed in the second half of 2023.