FEDERAL Minister for Trade Steve Ciobo has expressed concern over the rising stakes in the US / China trade war.
“A trade war will have no winners,” he told attendees at the Australian Grains Industry Conference (AGIC) this week.
While some have pointed to the Australian grain industry being a potential beneficiary of the spat between Washington and Beijing, due to China looking for other origins for its grain, Mr Ciobo was not so upbeat.
“If the trade wars were to escalate, then Australia could well find itself caught in the middle of something detrimental,” he said.
He said he was interested to see his opinion was shared by many in the US, such as influential Senator John Thune.
“Senator Thune has expressed concern over what will happen when US taxpayers are asked to write cheques to farmers in lieu of having a trade policy that actually opens and expands more markets."
The US Government has recently announced a whopping $A16 billion aid program to its farmers harmed by the tariffs recently imposed by China in retaliation to Donald Trump’s move to implement duties on items such as steel and aluminium from China.
Mr Ciobo said the Aussie government was currently examining whether the White House’s open cheque book will have a negative impact on Australian grain growers.
The US government largesse has failed to win over American farmer groups.
Last week US Wheat Associates and the National Association of Wheat Growers issued a joint statement calling for an end to the trade war and urged the US government to work with China through the World Trade Organisation (WTO) trade dispute settlement process.
"Our concerns still lie in a lengthy trade war that will cause long-term, irreparable harm to US agriculture," USW and NAWG said in a joint statement.
"We urge the administration to recognise this self-inflicted damage and to end the trade war immediately as well as to work within the rules-based trading system in partnership with like-minded countries to address serious problems in the global economy."