Australia-China
China and Australia have been in negotiations for what may be a major bilateral free trade deal.
A framework agreement for the potential FTA was signed in October 2003, and talks began in April 2005 after a feasibility study was conducted. Australia seeks a comprehensive agreement covering all sectors, while China seeks to limit the deal’s coverage and hoped to complete negotiations within two years. The pace of negotiations has been slow. Negotiations stalled for over a year after thehe 13th round of negotiations in December 2008. The 18th round of talks was held in Canberra in March 2012.
Australian manufacturers are worried about the potential influx of cheap Chinese goods while local horticulturalists and others are concerned about low wages and poor environmental and food safety standards behind China’s agricultural exports to Australia. Canberra, on the other hand, wants to gain more market access in China for Australian firms, including in the dairy sector where Chinese consumption is growing fast. (Australia trails behind New Zealand and the US in China’s dairy market.)
last update: May 2012
Articles
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16-Sep-2012 As the China FTA stagnates, Ted Baillieu gets on with business
At first blush, it looks like a suicide mission - taking hundreds of businesspeople to China for a big encounter with a one-party state, just weeks before that one party is to stage a 10-yearly leadership transition that will cascade down through every significant job in the country. -
26-Jul-2012 Stock & Land FTA ’can’t be relaxed’ for China
China has been pushing to accelerate negotiations on an FTA with Australia, and has recently indicated it would want more liberal rules to apply to state-owned enterprises. -
28-Jun-2012 Adelaide Now SA Government signs trade agreement with China
The South Australian Government has signed a trade and economic cooperation agreement with China in a bid to grow exports. -
14-May-2012 FTA with China is on track, says Carr
Foreign Minister Bob Carr wants to "broaden and deepen" Australia’s relationship with China in the face of growing international competition. -
24-Apr-2012 Emerson says China free trade deal overrated
Trade Minister Craig Emerson says a free trade agreement with China is overrated. Talks between the two countries began nearly seven years ago but have faced a number of problems, particularly around agricultural trade. -
2-Mar-2011 Stop cheap goods from China: AWU
The Australian Workers Union (AWU) has renewed its calls for the federal government to protect jobs and producers from Chinese companies dumping subsidised goods in the local market. -
19-Oct-2010 IBT Australia says FTA deal with China long way off
China and Australia remain well apart in glacial negotiations on a free trade deal, especially in the agriculture and services sectors, a senior Australian trade official said on Monday. -
22-Jun-2010 Global Times Australia, China sign deals, push free trade
Currently, Australia is the biggest exporter of iron ore, alumina, coal and liquefied natural gas to China, and China is Australia’s biggest trading partner and biggest exporting market as well as the biggest importer. -
26-May-2010 AFP Australia says mining tax won’t threaten China FTA
Australia Tuesday denied that its planned 40 percent mining tax would hurt attempts to strike a free-trade agreement with China, a key market for the country’s resources. -
24-May-2010 Australian Trade deal sails on slow boat to China
No big breakthroughs have occurred in the five years and 14 rounds of Australia-China FTA negotiations, and none is expected in the next round, in Beijing from June 28. -
10-May-2010 Telegraph Australian tax could breach treaty with China
Mining shares plunged last week after Kevin Rudd, Australia’s prime minister, proposed a 40pc tax on mining profits, arguing that Australia’s mining boom was benefiting shareholders based abroad -
16-Mar-2010 le Quotidien du Peuple en ligne Les discussions sur le libre-échange avec l’Australie reprennent
L’Australie et la Chine ont repris mercredi 24 février leurs discussions sur le-libre échange après une interruption de quatorze mois, un geste que le gouvernement australien interprète comme un indice de la bonne santé des relations commerciales entre les deux pays, bien que les experts chinois estiment qu’il reste encore des incertitudes quant à l’avenir. -
18-Feb-2010 Radio Australia China-Australia trade talks to resume
Chinese trade negotiators are due in Australia next week to resume talks on a free trade agreement. This will be the 14th round of talks in what has been a painfully slow process with "two to three more years" to go. Report from Radio Australia. -
20-Nov-2009 China trade talks ’very pleasing’: Crean
Australia’s breakthrough with China on another round of negotiations on a free trade agreement after a 12 month lag is "very pleasing", Trade Minister Simon Crean says. -
30-Oct-2009 China pushes trade pact as Vice-Premier Li Keqiang visits
China has signalled it wants fast progress on stalled free trade agreement talks with Australia and to use the "unique" relationship between the countries as a model for Beijing’s relations with other countries. -
26-Oct-2009 CCTV Primeros ministros de China y Australia piden pronto acuerdo sobre libre comercio
El primer ministro de China Wen Jiabao y su homólogo de Australia Kevin Rudd, pidieron la pronta firma del Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC) entre las dos importantes economías de Asia y el Pacífico. -
22-Sep-2009 Hansonite protest out of left field
Signs of community concern over Chinese influence on Australian living standards are shaping up as a key domestic issue for the Rudd government as it struggles to mend its already strained relations with China. -
16-Sep-2009 China deal could cost jobs - union
The Rudd Government is being warned the nation will lose more jobs than it will gain if Australia signs a free trade agreement with China. -
21-Aug-2009 China Daily China-Australia free trade talks go ahead: report
Free trade talks between China and Australia will go ahead in Beijing next month despite rocky relations between the two countries, Australia’s Trade Minister Simon Crean was reported as saying on Friday. -
22-Jul-2009 Dow Jones Australia Min: Don’t expect Rio issue to hurt China FTA
Australia’s trade minister said Monday he doesn’t expect the ongoing detention of an Australian employee of Rio Tinto PLC to have lasting implications for economic relations between Australia and China.
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Australia China Business Council
Corporate lobby group promoting Australia’s business interests towards China -
Australia-China FTA negotiations
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