China’s reported BHP iron ore ban has wide-ranging ramifications. Here’s what to know

From The Guardian

China, via a state-run enterprise, has reportedly banned its steel manufacturers from buying iron ore from the Australian mining giant BHP, amid a strategic bid by Beijing to reduce prices of the crucial steel-making commodity.

While it is a commercial dispute, the fight has wide-ranging political ramifications, given the threat to Australia’s biggest export, valued at more than $100bn a year, and the possibility Canberra is drawn deeper into the fight.

Even if the impasse is resolved promptly, it could prove to be a foreshock that warns of an economic earthquake ahead.