Australia’s Second China Challenge

Abstract

Economically, Australia has benefitted significantly from China’s post-Cold War rise. Australian trade statistics underline how deep this commercial relationship has become. In 2016-17, China accounted for over a quarter of total Australian merchandise trade, close to a third of total merchandise exports, and over four-fifths of Australian exports of iron ore. In fact, Australia’s trade with China was more than one and a half times larger than Australia’s trade with the US and Japan combined.