CHARBONNEAU – Look to Australia for how to trade with China
Protest placards at height of tension over the ‘two Michaels.’ (Image: Mel Rothenburger file photo)
CHINA IS AUSTRALIA’S largest trading partner. Exports to China are 15 times those to America. Australia has leaned how global trading really works.
Canada has been rewarded for its loyalty to the U.S. with punishing tariffs.
Canada showed solidarity with Washington by imposing 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles and 25-per-cent levies on Chinese steel and aluminum. Look at how far that got us.
China retaliated with A 100 per cent tariff on Canola oil, Canola meal, peas, and a 25 per cent tariff on seafood products and pork.
Back in 2018 Canada detained the CEO of Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, at the request of the American government.
She is the subject of Chinese national pride: a woman who made a real impact in a male-dominated club of the global business elite. State media has called Meng the “princess of Huawei,” and campaigned for her release, painting her as a hostage of the two North American governments.
We paid a price.
China’s response was swift. Within days, two Canadians, the “two Michaels,” were taken into custody in China on charges related to “national security.”
Then China imposed trade restrictions. Imports of Canola were suspended. Pork and beef were blocked by China citing “technical issues.”
The Michaels were released the day we released Meng,
Australia has learned a hard lesson. Canada should pay heed.
Newly re-elected Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese understands realpolitik when it comes to China.
“The relationship is complex as well, because China is our major trading partner, so what we have to do is to invest in our capability,” said Albanese.
Australia has taken a pragmatic approach to diplomacy and politics that prioritizes national interests and power dynamics over moral or ideological concerns.
Instead of lecturing the Chinese government on human rights abuses, as Canada has sanctimoniously done, Australians don’t scold China over moral or ethical considerations.
In the real world of power, Australia has convinced Beijing to drop various tariffs and reset the countries’ relationship. They persuaded Beijing to drop tariffs on Australian wine, coal, lobsters and barley.
China had initially targeted those products in 2020 as punishment after Australia’s then-Liberal government called for an investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Australia has managed relationships with China by taking a more practical approach with Beijing. Instead of political posturing, it opted to be pragmatic about addressing trade and security risks.
The pattern is clear. If you offend China, be prepared to pay a price.
If you are nice to America, it only hurts us. Our frenemy berates, insults, and punishes us.
We need to learn from Australia to get off our high horse and realize how trade with the world’s biggest powers works. Behaving in a condescending or self-important manner will get us nowhere.
In a choice between autocratic regimes, one which we are nice to one and they treat us badly and another which we are nice to and they treat us fairly, I choose China.
David Charbonneau is a retired TRU electronics instructor who hosts a blog at http://www.eyeviewkamloops.wordpress.com.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Funny how people (re: the left leaning kind) switches gears when it comes to matters involving China.
Here we had a Liberal government that spent the past decade beating us over the head with environmental policies, not to mention immigration, gender politics, and other ‘wokeisms’… but when it comes to trade, all that is forgotten?
China is the worst polluter on the planet; our carbon footprint pales in comparison to what China produces. But for us Canadians, we need to be slaves to taxes and levies as a deterrent to be more conscious about nature… while Carney’s Canada is ready to sever ties with our American cousins and getting deeper under the sheets of the CCP, where their human rights record is pretty bad… but I have to watch my mouth when using pronouns?
… I mean, money is money. And you go to where the water flows. And CCP has a lot of it, so the reasons for continuing business with China is valid. But this Liberal Party (that’s still going off the same WEF playbook as Trudeau Jr did), is a monument of contradictions that symbolizes the divide in this country. “Be “this”, but not “that”, even though the people we’re doing trade with is nothing but ‘that’.”…. ?…. Liberal-logic….
…and for what? “Orange Man Bad”? Yeah, he’s a clown. But he’s only in office for 4 years running off his mouth half the time, trying to get people scared. But the policies our country is making? Selling out to the CCP?… That’s the real threat facing Canada….
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Australia wishes to trade with a dictatorship. Canada wants the same from the US. Both Canada and Australia are dealing from weakness. We both will learn that we must prepare to be absorbed by the bigger ones if we continue to pretend we like them.
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China is Australia’s largest trading partner, with two-way trade reaching A$325 billion in 2023-24, driven by exports like travel and education services and imports such as telecommunications equipment. Australia’s deficit with China is over $100 billion. The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) since 2015 has bolstered this relationship, though tensions, including China’s temporary export restrictions in 2020, have posed challenges, most of which are now resolved.
Australia and Canada, while economically tied to China, align with Western allies to counter China’s regional economic influence through partnerships like the Quad and AUKUS. Geopolitical tensions, such as the “Two Michaels” detention in retaliation for Meng Wanzhou’s arrest, reflect broader strategic rivalries, with Australia and Canada often following U.S. and UK policies. Criticisms of China’s actions are sometimes overshadowed by Canada’s and Australia’s own role in global issues, like pathogen emergence during COVID-19, revealing a tendency to deflect responsibility while pursuing self-interest.
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