WTO to rule on China-US broiler dispute
Beijing claimed that US poultry product producers were both unfairly subsidised and that America dumped cut-price products on the Chinese market.
As a result, Beijing has imposed these duties to protect its own poultry meat sector. But the US considered these tariffs unjustified and breaching global trade rules: so it has launched a WTO disputes case.
A WTO statement noted Washington considered the duties “inconsistent with China’s obligations under the [WTO] anti-dumping agreement” and would challenge “every phase of China’s investigation”, which justified the tariffs. China said it “regretted” the move, and claimed its protective duties were “consistent with WTO rules”.
However, the disputes panel will take months to rule and China could appeal, so the duties could remain in place for some time – probably into 2013.
That said, pressure for their abolition will also come from the European Union, which promised to “follow this proceeding very closely”.
The US Trade Representative office said it wanted to “protect jobs in America’s poultry processing sector, which directly employs 300,000 workers, as jobs in this sector are threatened by China’s imposition of duties on imports of American chicken products”.
