Australia should do what it can to prevent a trade war between its two biggest trading partners – the United States and China – in the wake of a North Korean nuclear weapon test, foreign minister Julie Bishop has said.
US president Donald Trump said he was “considering” stopping all trade with countries that do business with the isolationist regime, writing on Twitter on Sunday.
The trade ban would presumably apply to China, which is by far North Korea’s most significant trading partner.
“Clearly China and the US are major trading partners for Australia, so we want to avoid any kind of trade war between China and the United States,” Ms Bishop told SBS World News on Monday.
China is also Australia’s single most valuable trading partner. Two-way trade with the Asian superpower was valued at around $155 billion in 2016, according to DFAT data.
The US came in second last year, with two-way trade worth $64 billion.
Ms Bishop said the threat from the President Trump was a “very significant step”.
“It reflects the gravity with which the United States views the current situation with North Korea.”
She said she understood the US’s desire to restrict Kim Jong-un’s access to finance, but stressed recent United Nations sanctions were yet to fully impact the North Korean economy.
Those UN Security Council sanctions, which passed last month, were supported by China and Russia.
They ban the export of North Korean coal, seafood and metals, including iron and lead.
North Korea reacted angrily to the sanctions, vowing to never give up its arsenal of weapons.
