Sydney Morning Herald:
- China’s President Xi Jinping has arrived in Canberra with what could be the most ambitious free trade agreement his country has signed since committing to the World Trade Organisation
- The deal offered to Australian farmers and professionals, ranging from lawyers to aged-care providers, will meet and in many cases exceed what industry had hoped for
- Australian dairy farmers … tariff-free access within four years to China’s enormously lucrative infant formula market, minus any of the “safeguard” caps that currently restrict competitors from New Zealand, according to sources
- Winemakers … will also see tariffs eliminated over four years
- Tariffs on horticultural products, seafood and other goods accounting for 93 per cent of Australian exports by value will also be reduced to zero by 2019
- Shock tariffs recently imposed on Australian coal will be removed over two years
- The Abbott Government has given ground on labour, agreeing to a new case-by-case mechanism for Chinese investors to apply to bring in workers at Australian wage rates in areas of skills shortages
More at the article: Tony Abbott seals free trade deal with Beijing
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AUD a little higher from Friday’s closing levels on the US
