SYDNEY (BLOOMBERG)Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham has yet to receive a call back from his Chinese counterpart after reaching out to Beijing about an anti-dumping probe into barley exports.
An official response was filed with China over the investigation, Birmingham said on the Australian Broadcasting Corp's Insiders programme. He reiterated the government's stance that Australia's barley farmers operate without any trade-distorting subsidies and price their products in an entirely commercial way.
If duties, which could be set at as high as 80 per cent, were imposed, Australia would appeal the matter to the World Trade Organization, Birmingham said.
"Government to government we've had lots of contacts, our officials continue to engage in dialogue," Birmingham said in reaction to questions on whether he had been able to directly talk to his counterpart. A call seeking to talk to China's trade minister has "not been accommodated at this time," he said.
The probe into the barley exports to China, worth A$1.4 billion (S$1.3 billion) in 2017, is seen by several in Australia as part of Beijing's reaction to the government's call for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak that started in Wuhan.
China's embassy in Canberra warned its citizens might be offended by Australia's behaviour and choose to travel to alternative destinations and send their children to universities in other countriesthreatening Australia's two key service exports. Meat imports from four Australian processing plants have also been suspended by China.
The two nations entered a free-trade agreement in December 2015.