U.S. & Australia take diverging paths on trade with China

      The Biden administration is about to issue an executive order on investments in China's sensitive and critical technologies, mainly chips, quantum computing and AI, threatening to exacerbate the ongoing trade war. However, the trade dispute between China and Australia shows signs of easing, especially after China announced last week that tariffs on Australian barley had been scrapped. As Washington and Canberra take diverging paths on trade with China, will the voice of reason and the logic of common interests prevail? In this edition of The Hub, Wang Guan talks to Wang Peng, research fellow at the Institute of State Governance at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology; in Darwin, Australia, to Daryl Guppy, independent economic and political analyst; and in Beijing, to Edgar Perez, keynote speaker in global technology and finance, to discuss the impact of this executive order, if issued, and look at how China might retaliate and further bounce back in the face of adversity. The situation is completely different in Australia, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expected in China probably later this year, raising hopes for a normalization of trade ties between China and Australia. Wang Guan asks if Canberra is currently walking a tightrope between China and the U.S., its long-standing ally.