Thu. Nov 7th, 2024
Occasional Digest - a story for you

It’s official. The trade wars with China are coming to an end. Soon, it’ll be business as usual.

At least, that was the official spin from last week after Beijing suddenly reversed course after years of false claims and coercion aimed at bringing Canberra to heel.

If all goes well, China may soon allow Australian barley back into the country to help brew beer. Wine too may be back on the table of China’s well heeled in the not too distant future. Earlier this year, Beijing also jettisoned the restrictions on Australian coal.

There is, however, a slightly more nuanced interpretation of the events of the past fortnight.

Perhaps it was a mere coincidence that last week’s trade breakthrough was accompanied by a show of force over Taiwan after the US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met with Taiwan leader President Tsai Ing-wen in Washington.

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