China-Australia trade ministers meet in Canberra

Australian and Chinese trade ministers held their first bilateral meeting in three years Monday as Australia urges China to lift official and unofficial barriers that are costing exporters 14 billion USD a year.China has thawed its diplomatic freeze on Australia since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor Party was elected in May for the first time in nine years.

Albanese has urged China to demonstrate good will to his administration by lifting trade restrictions on Australian exports including wine, coal, beef, seafood, barley and wood.Trade Minister Don Farrell said that he and his Chinese counterpart had agreed to enhance dialogue at all levels as a pathway “towards the timely and full resumption of trade.”