A win for the Australian wine industry
TheLiberal-National Government has today reached an agreement with Canada toremove unfair restrictions on Australian wine sales in the province of BritishColumbia.
Ministerfor Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham said the Canadian Governmenthad agreed to eliminate discriminatory measures that limit opportunities for Australianwine sales in British Columbia, by 1 November of this year.
"Theremoval of this discriminatory trade barrier will allow our wine exporters to access retail shelves and compete on alevel playing field with Canadian wine in the provinceof British Colombia," Minister Birmingham said.
"Thisis good news for our wine exporters. Canada is an important market forAustralian wine with exports totalling $208 million in 2018.
"Withthe TPP-11 eliminating all tariffs on Australian wine exports to Canada, thisis a market with huge potential growth for our wine industry and this agreementwill provide more opportunities for our wine exporters to sell more Australianwine in Canada.
"Thecombined impact of the TPP and theresolution of this trade dispute over British Columbia measures means thatAustralian wine will be on more shelves with lower tariffs in a Canadian province with a population in excess of fivemillion people."
InJanuary 2018, the Australian Government initiated dispute action in the WorldTrade Organization (WTO) against Canada's discriminatory measures affectingAustralian wineat the federal level and in four Canadian provinces: British Columbia, Ontario,Quebec and Nova Scotia.
"Whilstthis breakthrough in relation to British Columbia is important progress and a very useful precedent, Australia will continue to pursue our ongoing concernsthrough the WTO dispute process we initiated last year," Minister Birminghamsaid.
"We willcontinue to back our wine producers and stand-up against any practices thatcould disadvantage their ability to export our in-demand and high-quality wineto the world.
"Consistent with our strong bilateralrelationship, we remain open to resolving our remaining concerns with Canadaoutside of the WTO process."