Anthony Albanese’s China visit: Prime Minister set to travel to Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu from Saturday

Anthony Albanese has confirmed his visit to China from Saturday, when he is heading to Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu.

The Prime Minister is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang for the annual bilateral leaders’ dialogue during the trip that will span nearly a week.

Trade is expected to be high on the agenda, with these meetings the first since China lifted its final barriers on Australian exports.

The ban on Australian lobsters was lifted in December.

“China’s an important trading partner for Australia – 25 per cent of our exports go to China. What that means is jobs, and one of the things that my government prioritises is jobs,” Mr Albanese said on Tuesday.

“What we have done is to get rid of the more than $20 billion of impediments on goods that were stopped from going to China.

“It’s made an enormous difference … products like wine and barley have not just bounced back, they’ve bounced back higher than they were before.”

This will be the fourth time Mr Albanese has met Mr Xi.

The talks come as uncertainty continues around US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The US President has publicly issued letters he has sent to several countries, including Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa and Serbia, informing them he will lift the rate of tariffs imposed on them from 10 per cent to a “reciprocal” level from August 1.

Australia, which has a trade surplus with the US, does not expect to be hit with anything higher than the 10 per cent base rate.

China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, this week called for Australia to expand its trade deal with his country to include greater cooperation on artificial intelligence.

Mr Albanese brushed off questions about his approach to this, saying Australia would determine its own policy.

Australia is working with the US and UK to cooperate on developing AI and advanced military capabilities as part of AUKUS Pillar II.