Australian farmers and business leaders yesterday broadly welcomed a proposed free trade agreement with China but a union leader slammed the decision to start talks as based on a fiction.
The two sides on Monday night signed a memorandum of understanding during a visit by Prime Minister John Howard to Beijing, paving the way for the start of negotiations on an agreement.
The Australian Industry Group said China had already achieved a major goal even before talks start, after Australia granted it market economy status. The status is crucial for China's WTO undertakings as it will give Beijing a better basis to negotiate trade disputes.
But Australian Manufacturing Workers Union national secretary Doug Cameron said such a status was pure fiction. Cameron said Beijing controlled and intervened in every aspect of its economy and had a series of provincial non-tariff barriers to protect and promote its industries.
"Workers have no bargaining rights. The country has no human rights, poor environmental standards and a diabolical health and safety system," he said.
China represents a threat to living standards and job security worldwide, Cameron said.
The National Farmers' Federation was more upbeat, saying farmers and agricultural exporters stand to gain. Federation president Peter Corish said Australia must concentrate on gaining free access for all agricultural goods.
Australian agricultural exports to China were worth A$2.4 billion dollars (US$1.8 billion) last year, only a very small percentage of the total Chinese agricultural market.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Peter Hendy said a deal would put Australia in a unique position -- having free trade agreements with two of the world's major economic powerhouses, China and the US.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce