Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
Australia’s usual approach to big international negotiations is to hold out, before reluctantly making “concessions”. It’s the wrong approach for trade, and the wrong approach for climate change.
Beijing’s suspension of the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue sends a strong signal it is prepared to escalate tensions.
The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, has let its displeasure over questions of influence in Australian politics be known.
Reuters/Thomas Peter
Trade agreements are often misunderstood by the community, making it easier for gross exaggerations about their benefits.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott watches the signing of the free trade agreement with China, which he now accuses Labor of opposing for ‘racist’ reasons.
Reuters/Lukas Coch
Charges of racism against Labor for querying aspects of the free trade deal with China are a mark of how much Australian attitudes have changed and how adversarial politics fuels hyperbolic attacks.
China’s Minister of Commerce Dr Gao Hucheng and Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott signed the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement in mid-July.
AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
Unions have warned that there is no clear statement in the China-Australia free trade deal that says foreign and Australian workers have to receive the same conditions and pay. Is that correct?
ACTU President Ged Kearney has warned the China Australia Free Trade Agreement could lock out Australian workers. Is that true?
AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
ACTU President Ged Kearney has warned the recently signed China-Australia Free Trade Agreement could lock out Australian workers. Is that true?
A still from a NSW election ad, run on television and online, which says “selling the electricity network is wrong; selling it to another country is just not on”.
CFMEU Mining/YouTube
Labor and the unions have decided to play the China card in the NSW election. Such scare campaigns ignore the facts, including that Australia has invested almost as much in China as China has here.
Australia is now the most China-dependent economy in the world – does this pose a problem for our future?
AAP/Alan Porritt
If something can’t go on for ever, it won’t. – Herb Stein, chief economic adviser to former US president Richard Nixon. China’s economic rise has been a good news story for Australia. According to most…
Australian companies still face highly competitive and complex markets in China despite the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
Lukas Coch/AAP
During the APEC meeting in Beijing, President Xi Jinping announced China will spend US$10 trillion on imports over the next five years and US$1.25 trillion in foreign investment over the next ten years…
Australia’s free trade deal with China will invariably boost bilateral trade and investment. But how trade and investment are settled also matters. Given the rise of the renminbi (RMB) in recent years…
Cattle bound for live export in the Northern Territory.
AAP Image/Grenville Turne
The number of animals exported live out of Australia is set to increase as Australia prepares to enter into a A$1 billion trade agreement with China. Agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce has claimed up to…
China has many unique domestic issues influencing its approach to coal.
Woo He/EPA/AAP
On the surface, Joe Hockey’s analysis of the imposition by Chinese authorities of tariffs on coal imported from Australia as good old-fashioned protectionism seems straightforward. That at least is what…
China’s market for milk is huge, but not without its challenges.
Mark & Andrea Busse/Flickr
The clock is ticking down to the end of year deadline Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has given for sign off on a free trade agreement with China. In this China-Australia FTA series we explore what…
Prime Minister Tony Abbott is inching Australia closer to a free trade agreement with China.
Parker Song/EPA/AAP
The clock is ticking down to the end of year deadline Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has given for sign off on a free trade agreement with China. In this China-Australia FTA series we explore what…
With the world watching, Australia’s FTA with China is likely to be more about diplomacy than economics.
Parker Song/EPA/AAP
The clock is ticking down to the end of year deadline Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has given for sign off on a free trade agreement with China. In this China-Australia FTA series we explore what…