There’s been a bit of a breakthrough in the long-running trade dispute between Oz and China after an agreement was reached on barley. In 2020, Beijing imposed sanctions worth $20 billion on a range of Australian products, including barley, meat, seafood and wine – that was in response to then-PM Scott Morrison’s support for calls for an inquiry into the origins of COVID. After months of negotiations, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said yesterday that Beijing had agreed to a 3-month timeframe to review its sanctions on our barley exports, and we’ll temporarily suspend our appeal to the World Trade Organization. Aussie officials are hopeful it could lead to the removal of other similar sanctions, and the prospect of restarting exports to the great big China market will be welcomed by economic managers in the face of a deteriorating global outlook. Overnight, the International Monetary Fund said the danger of recession has ­escalated, and inflation is set to remain high for a while yet.