Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese plans to travel to China from this weekend, seeking to strengthen ties with his country’s largest trading partner while its top security ally US aims to check Beijing’s presence in Asia.
The Australian leader said Tuesday that he will visit Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu, where the country has consular operations, starting from Saturday.
“China’s an important trading partner for Australia, 25% of our exports go to China,” he told reporters in Hobart. “What that means is jobs, and one of the things that my government prioritizes is jobs.”
The delegation will include top executives from Macquarie Bank Ltd. and HSBC Holdings PLC’s Australia arm, as well as from Fortescue Ltd., BlueScope Steel Ltd., Rio Tinto Ltd. and BHP Group Ltd, according to the Australian Financial Review, citing people it didn’t identify.
Xiao Qian, China ambassador to Australia, wrote earlier this week that Beijing is open to expanding the free-trade agreement between the countries to cover artificial intelligence, health care and renewable energy.
The visit comes as US President Donald Trump has unleashed a series of punishing tariffs, expected to go into effect Aug. 1 barring any bilateral deals. That pressure, aimed at spurring domestic industry, has isolated allies and trading partners like Australia, which has a longstanding security partnership with Washington.
Albanese on Tuesday said Australia continues to negotiate with the Trump administration to lower tariffs below the 10% baseline in force at the moment, which Washington has said repeatedly would likely be the floor for all countries.
Meanwhile, Albanese’s government has helped thaw relations with Beijing, it’s biggest trading partner and customer for raw materials and wine. Albanese on Tuesday said his government has been able to remove impediments that blocked more than A$20 billion ($13 billion) worth of goods going to China.