Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has rejected an invitation to “join hands” with Ambassador Qian Xiao in “solidarity” after the US President threatened China with 125 percent tariffs.
“We obviously don’t want to see a trade war between China and the US … [but] it’s about pursuing Australia’s national interests, not about making common calls with China,” he said.
Marles said Australia would diversify its trade, pursuing greater ties in Indonesia, India, the UK and the United Arab Emirates. He also said diverse trade without reliance on China would strengthen Australia’s “economic resilience”.
“That’s really been the lesson not just in the last couple of weeks, but really over the last five or 10 years, about the importance of making sure that we have got strong, diversified trade around the world, and that’s our focus”, he said.
US President Donald Trump’s latest reversal, which reverted tariffs on all countries besides China to 10 percent, amplifies threats to Australia as it relies on China for trade.
Beijing responded to the tariffs last week with retaliatory tariffs and Xiao hinted a further response was likely.
“The only way to stop the hegemonic and bullying behaviour of the US in harvesting the whole world is to strengthen solidarity and collaboration, and to jointly resist,” he wrote in an op-ed for Nine.
“Under the new circumstances, China stands ready to join hands with Australia and the international community to jointly respond to the changes of the world”.
China announced on Wednesday an additional 84 percent tariff added on imports from the US, matching tariffs that Trump imposed. This was an increase from the previously announced 34 percent, which had been scheduled to take effect by April 10.
“China has firmly taken countermeasures to protect its legitimate rights and interests and will resolutely continue to do that,” he wrote.
“There is no winner in a trade or tariff war and protectionism leads nowhere”.
Photo: Photo by U.S. Secretary of Defence found HERE and used under a Creative Commons license. This image has not been modified.
