Even in the scorching Australian summer sun, long queues of customers snake around Fremantle harbor―a soothing sight for beleaguered local fishermen trying to replace lost business with China. Australia’s rock lobster exports are worth half a billion US dollars a year―and in normal times, 94 percent of them go to China. But all that changed a few weeks ago, when Beijing imposed a near-total import ban on lobster, part of a broader politically charged “shadow trade war.”

Australian lobster sector claws back trade after China ban. (2020, December 28). Manila Standard, p. B3.