The Morrison government has asked China to grant Australia the same reduction in bureaucratic trade barriers that Beijing has promised the United States.
The request emerged as experts warned that US allies such as Australia could suffer “collateral damage” from a deal between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump to massively increase China’s imports of American agricultural goods and energy products.
Similarly, a former Australian government foreign affairs adviser argued on Thursday that Canberra could not afford to play “a never-ending game of chicken” with China without greater reassurance from the US on shared end goals.
