Campaign launched to support Australian winemakers hit by Chinese trade tariffs

Politicians from around the world joined a video campaign encouraging consumers to drink Australian wine this month to mitigate the impact of China’s punitive trade tariffs.

Politicians have rallied together to encourage people to drink Australian wine this December

The video shows representatives of the IPAC, an international cross-party group of legislators and politicians, promoting their countries’ national alcoholic beverages. The IPAC representatives are promoting the initiative via the #StandwithAustralia hashtag.

US congressman Ted Yoho said: “We’re drinking something a little bit different, because our friends need our help.”

It comes in response to a recent announcement by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce that temporary tariffs of 107.1- 212.1% will be levied on bottled Australian wine.

China is the industry’s biggest export market by value, importing products from around 2,400 Australian grape and wine businesses.

In the video, Australian Senator Kimberley Kitching describes the temporary tariffs as “an attempt to bully us into abandoning our values. This isn’t just an attack on Australia. It’s an attack on free countries everywhere,” she says.

During ongoing trade disputes, China’s Ministry of Commerce claimed subsidised Australian wine had been sold cheaply, or ‘dumped’, into the country, causing “material injury” to its domestic wine industry.

Australia’s minister for agriculture, drought and emergency management, David Littleproud, refuted the accusations. “The Australian government rejects any allegation that our producers are dumping product into China, and we continue to believe there is no basis or any evidence for these claims,” he said.

Wine Australia has worked closely with the Australian government to provide comprehensive responses to investigations by China. “The Australian wine sector has fully cooperated,” it said.