China makes HUGE move against Australia by referring us to the World Trade Organisation over 'sinks, railway wheels and wind towers'

China has made a complaint to the World Trade Organisation over Australia's anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures on its railway wheels, wind towers and stainless-steel sinks.  

Chinese commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng announced on Thursday that Beijing would appeal against Australia's duties on the three imports. 

' hopes that the Australian side will take concrete action to correct the wrong practices and avoid distortions to the trade of related products, so that trade will return to a normal track as soon as possible,' Gao said.  

Trade minister Dan Tehan said the federal government had been taken by surprise by China's appeal.  

China has made a complaint to the World Trade Organisation over Australia's anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures on its railway wheels, wind towers and stainless-steel sinks (pictured, Chinese president Xi Jinping)

Chinese commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng announced on Thursday that Beijing would appeal against Australia's duties on the three imports, which included railway wheels (stock image)

'The normal course of events would be that you would get some notification of their concerns about the measures we put in place through the relevant WTO committee or through officials raising it through bilateral channels,' he said.

'We haven't seen any of that.'

Australia imposed 10.8 per cent tariffs on Chinese wind towers in 2014, 60.2 per cent duties on stainless steel sinks in 2015 and 17.4 per cent tariffs on railway wheels in 2019.  

Mr Tehan said the federal government would 'robustly' defend the case and questioned why China had waited so long to take action. 

'Why they have taken this action now is a question you would have to ask China,' he said.  

Mr Tehan would not comment on whether the move was a diplomatic retaliation. 

Australia earlier in the week launched WTO action against China over wine tariffs that have hit exporters hard, while Canberra also has a complaint about barley before the global body. 

China launched punitive trade strikes against a range of Australian imports after the government called for an independent investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.  

Relationships between the two countries were already strained when Australia banned Huawei from its 5G broadband networking in 2018.

Mr Tehan reiterated his desire to build a 'constructive' relationship with China following the latest development with the WTO. 

Trade minister Dan Tehan said the federal government had been taken by surprise by China's appeal

'Obviously China has the right to take this action, but we will vigorously defend the duties that we have put in place,' he said.

'What we would like to be able to do is not only be able to sit down at the official level and resolve these disputes, but also at the ministerial level.'

'But that is not an avenue which is available to us at this time.'    

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham is confident Australia's anti-dumping regime will stand up in the case.

'I'd call it more petty than provocative, to be honest,' he told ABC radio on Friday.

'We don't think China will find it has any sort of strong case in the action it is taking.' 

WTO cases usually take two to four years meaning there isn't immediate impacts for Australians.