This Month
Time to fix budget’s structural deficit: accountants
Accounting bodies say the federal budget should have done more to deliver substantive tax reform and a plan for implementation. Here’s how the day unfolded.
- Updated
- Gus McCubbing
New US tariffs on China could help Australian critical minerals
It’s not just the federal budget that could boost Australia’s critical minerals exports, but also a new round of US tariffs on Chinese imports.
- Updated
- Matthew Cranston and Andrew Tillett
Biden ramps up tariff regime on $27b of China imports
Following a four-year review on trade with China, US President Joe Biden will not only keep the tariffs put in place by Donald Trump, but ratchet up others.
- Updated
- Matthew Cranston
France’s cognac exports to China could be hit like Australian wine
China opened an anti-dumping investigation into brandy imported from the EU in January, sparking fears cognac could suffer a similar blow to that taken by Australian wine.
- Emma Rumney
Blow to China’s bid to join trade pact
New Productivity Commission modelling has found there would be little economic benefit to Australia if China was admitted to the trans-Pacific free trade deal.
- Andrew Tillett
April
China factory profits slip as overcapacity troubles economic recovery
Industrial profits at large-scale Chinese companies declined 3.5 per cent from a year earlier in March, ending seven straight months of increases.
- Siuming Ho
China warns Blinken over ‘negative factors’ in US ties
China’s top diplomat told his US counterpart the relationship is “facing all kinds of disruptions”, signalling Beijing’s impatience with Washington’s policies as the presidential election looms.
- Iain Marlow
- Analysis
- Analysis
China’s cheap exports threaten to blow up Biden’s agenda
The US president is increasingly hitting back with tariffs and other measures meant to restrict imports of China’s green and other goods, raising tensions with Beijing.
- Jim Tankersley and Alan Rappeport
Biden triples tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminium, denies trade war
US President Joe Biden defends the move, while US Trade Representative Katherine Tai says the US will monitor any impact on Australia.
- Updated
- Matthew Cranston
- Opinion
- Opinion
Biden’s trade action against China is just polite Trumpism
Improved relations between the two powers can’t mask age-old trade tensions. Better communication is important because the structural problem between them is insoluble.
- Edward Luce
Yellen calls China meetings ‘productive’, seeks level playing field
Janet Yellen said she had “productive conversations” with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on the bilateral economic relationship after two days of meetings in China.
- Updated
- David Lawder
March
Beijing blocks use of Intel and AMD chips in government computers
The stricter government procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favour of domestic options.
- Ryan McMorrow, Nian Liu and Qianer Liu
- Opinion
- WTO
WTO in the deep freeze as world walks away from growth
Last week’s failed meeting marks a formal sidelining of multilateral trade rules, at least until the world sits down and decides they were a good idea after all.
- Prudence Gordon
China shuns Tesla, Apple as US tensions rise
Delegates at the annual Communist Party meeting spurned iPhones for homegrown handsets, saying US company Apple was “not safe”.
- Ryan McMorrow, Nian Liu, Gloria Li and Michael Acton
Australia can launch a new trade boom with China, Farrell says
The trade minister says that with feuds on wine and lobster exports potentially soon sorted, Australia could aim to stack on another $100 billion in trade.
- Hans van Leeuwen
February
- Analysis
- Trade
In the shadow of Trump: how the WTO has reached the last-chance saloon
A summit of up to 164 ministers in Abu Dhabi aims to rebuild confidence and capability at the global trade umpire before a new Trump administration starts another trade war.
- Hans van Leeuwen
January
Farmer fury spreads in Europe, squashing Aussie trade deal hopes
As France’s farming protests spread to Belgium, Spain and Portugal, the odds dwindle of any EU leader agreeing to boost market access for Australian farmers.
- Hans van Leeuwen
AusSuper duo ready for Trump 2024
Australia’s biggest superannuation fund has just opened a new office in New York. The prospect of another Trump presidency has not dimmed their optimism.
- Matthew Cranston
Consumers can revive China’s economy, says Kevin Rudd
The ex-PM told a Davos panel that Chinese consumers and businesses could boost growth, if they can get their mojo back. The big risk is a fallout with the US.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
‘Choosing China is not a risk’: Beijing shrugs off slowdown
Premier Li Qiang said the economy grew 5.2 per cent last year, and put out the welcome mat for foreign investors. But he fired a first warning at Donald Trump.
- Hans van Leeuwen
