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CHINA and Australia signed a preliminary free-trade deal today that will give Australia’s service industry unsurpassed access to the Chinese market.
Officials claimed that the deal would give Australian agriculturalists advantages over competitors from the US, Canada and the European Union.
President Xi Jinping witnessed the signing by Australian and Chinese officials of a declaration which concluded negotiations begun in 2005.
The deal between Australia and its largest trading partner would immediately make 85 per cent of goods exports tariff-free, rising to 93 per cent four years later.
Australia did not reveal what proportion of exports would then be tariff-free.
In return, Australia would lift the threshold at which privately owned Chinese companies coulsd invest from $A248 million (£138m) to a touch over 1 billion Australian dollars (£557m).
Tariffs on Chinese manufactured goods would also be lifted.
The pact will take effect in March if it is endorsed by the Australian parliament.
