Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has intervened in the US-China trade battle saying that as a "trade-exposed country" it is in Australia's interest to "see cooler heads prevail".
His remarks were made during a discussion of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Indonesia.
"China is our number one trading partner and the US is our number one investor. We have a real stake in the global trading system," Mr Frydenberg said.
"The G20 should work to strengthen World Trade Organisation processes so that all parties have confidence in the rules-based trading system and the WTO as a forum for resolving trade differences."
"If we can make the WTO more relevant to the parties around this table, it will go a long way towards ensuring that these trade tensions do not escalate."
Present at the dinner discussion were China's Vice Minister of Finance Zou Jiyai, People's Bank of China governor Yi Gang, US Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell and US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
Mr Frydenberg reportedly had a separate meeting with Mr Mnuchin in which he invited him to visit Australia.
