Australia wants businesses to diversify after China's lifting of wine tariffs

(March 29): Australia’s government has warned businesses against relying solely on China for their economic success after Beijing decided to scrap heavy tariffs on Australian wine exports this week. Assistant Minister for Trade Tim Ayres said trade diversification was “absolutely critical” for Australian businesses and the government would be working with wine producers to “diversify their trade markets.” “It’s never good to put all of your eggs in one basket in business terms,” he told reporters at a press conference in Canberra on Friday. China’s tariffs on Australian wine, some of them as high as 218%, would be lifted over the course of Friday, Ayres said, allowing the return of a trade which at its height was worth A$1.2 billion (RM3.71 billion). The trade sanctions were one of a number of measures imposed on Australian exports at the height of tensions between Canberra and Beijing in 2020, following a call by then-prime minister Scott Morrison for an independent investigation ...