Australia Launches Trade Dispute Against Canada Over Wine Sales

Canberra has turned to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to protest against the regulations that Ottawa, as well as various Canadian provinces, apply to sales of wine.

"It appears that a range of distribution, licensing and sales measures such as product mark-ups, market access, and listing policies, as well as duties and taxes on wine applied at the federal and provincial level, may discriminate, either directly or indirectly, against imported wine," a WTO filing says.

Trade really is all about wine and cloth… Australia files first WTO case since 2003. It's against Canada. And it's about wine… pic.twitter.com/qZrE2rGE9Y

— Shawn Donnan (@sdonnan) 16 января 2018 г.

The Australian government moved to file a complaint after the country’s wine producers expressed dissatisfaction with Canada’s "protectionist" measures.

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Commenting on the motion, Australia’s Trade Minister Steve Ciobo said that Canada’s policies towards Australian wine producers are “inconsistent with Canada’s WTO commitments,” according to the Australian. He added that Ottawa will not allow any states to discriminate against Australian wine producers and industry as a whole.

Canada is the fourth largest market for Australia with profits from wine sales reaching $200 million.

The dispute indicates the deterioration of the trade relations between the two nations following the conclusion of the revived TPP.

The news comes days after Canada launched a trade dispute against the US challenging its repeated use of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy trade remedies.