Disputes between China and Australia continued after Beijing announced on Thursday it had lodged a complaint about the Canberra issue to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The complaint was made to challenge Australia’s anti-dumping action against a number of goods from China, including railway wheels, wind turbines, and stainless steel sink products.
The move was seen as a 'reciprocal act' by China after Australia said it had officially complained about Chinese tariffs on Australian wine exports last week.
According to a statement from a spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce, the move was made to protect the legitimate rights and interests of companies in the country.
He hopes that Australia will take action to correct its wrong practices, avoid irregularities in trade in related products, and bring such trade back to normal as soon as possible.
Earlier, Australia had imposed tariffs on train wheels and Chinese -made wind turbines since 2019.
China, meanwhile, has announced tariffs of up to 218% on Australian wines, which are said to be ‘thrown’ into the Chinese market at subsidized prices in November.
The move nearly shut down Australia’s largest overseas wine market, with sales down from A $ 1.1 billion (US $ 840 million) to just A $ 20 million, according to official figures.
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since last year, after Australia urged the World Health Organization (WHO) to conduct an investigation into China over the origins of the coronavirus.
