China FTA: Free trade or fair trade?

摘要

AS this issue of Manufacturers' Monthly goes to print, the media frenzy around the G20 summit in Brisbane is subsiding. The focus, and the shrill debate, is shifting to the Australia-China free-trade agreement (FTA). Agriculture and service providers seem to be big winners. Currently, China imposes tariffs of up to 40 per cent on some goods. With the FTA, over 83 percent of goods exported to China will be tariff-free and this will go up to 93 percent within four years.