Not COVID-19 retaliation? Analysts claimed Australia-China trade war was ‘over-sensationalised’

Tensions between Australia and China​ were running high over barley tariffs and beef bans, but this nothing new nor solely due to ‘punishing behaviour’ over COVID-19, according to several trade consulting experts.

Rumours had run rife in the industry about how Australia’s call for an international investigation into the origins of COVID-19 resulted in retaliatory responses by China, most notably by slapping an 80% tariff on barley imports as well as banning meat imports from four of Australia’s largest meat processors.

This was viewed as ‘comebacks’ and ‘trade retaliation’, but trade consultants in Australia had argued that this might not be the case.

“Given the current political climate, it is easy to say one party felt attacked and took action [to retaliate] but in fact, if you take a closer look at it, COVID-19 is unlikely to be the sole reason or main motivating factor behind such major trade moves, there are definitely other driving forces behind it,”​ trade policy consultancy ITS Global Director and international trade expert Jon Berry told FoodNavigator-Asia​.