This week, Australia will force China into a formal World Trade Organisation (WTO) dispute process over Beijing’s punitive wine tariffs – a move the wine industry hopes will offer an exit ramp from the stoush, AFR reports.

“We’re not going to get a silver bullet from it. It’s not going to solve the problem unless the international relations improve,” Tony Battaglene, chief executive at Australian Grape and Wine told AFR.

“But it does give us an exit ramp: it gives everyone the opportunity to shake hands, make up and move on. And to show our customers that we don’t subsidise our production.”

According to AFR, the federal government sees the tariffs as politically motivated – part of a broader series of punitive trade actions designed to deter Australia from taking political positions or making strategic moves that Beijing dislikes.

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