Aussies in Tango with Japan-Korea-China

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott confirmed this week plans to visit Japan, Korea, and China in April, as part of a bid to advance Canberra’s ongoing trade negotiations with each of these Asian partners.

“The prosperity of our country and other countries in our region depends on increased trade and investment,” Abbott told domestic lawmakers this week in announcing the news. Forty percent of Australia’s two-way trade in goods and services, valued A$250 billion is conducted with these three countries, he added.

Canberra already finalised trade talks with Seoul - its third-largest export market - in late December 2013, and the two sides are expected to sign the deal in April when Abbott visits the South Korean capital. Estimates place the potential gains of the deal at US$4.5 billion between 2015 and 2030.

The Australian prime minister is also hoping to “substantially advance” his country’s planned trade agreement with Japan during his visit to Tokyo, in the hopes of hosting a formal signing in July in Canberra when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returns the visit.

Japan is Australia’s second biggest trading partner behind China, and the deal is expected to bring in hundreds of millions for Australian businesses, particularly agricultural exporters. Major sticking points have reportedly been Australian tariffs on automobile imports and Japanese restrictions on agricultural imports, both of which are expected to be lowered in the final pact.

Regarding China, Australian officials insist that those negotiations are well on track, despite recent tensions over Beijing’s territorial dispute with Tokyo on islands in the East China Sea. The relationship is in “very good shape,” Abbott said earlier this week, reiterating earlier promises that his government will do all in its power to clinch a trade pact with its Asian partner by the end of this year.