Beijing said yesterday that duties imposed on US poultry exports were lawful, after Washington asked the WTO to look at Chinese tariffs on the billion-dollar chicken trade.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs were in line with WTO rules, after the US opened a fresh front in the fight for better access to Chinese markets.
“China will carefully study the consultation request raised by the US and appropriately deal with the issue in accordance with WTO dispute settlement procedures,” the ministry said in a statement.
Photo: Bloomberg
The US move is the first step toward possible sanctions in the one-year-old dispute and it is just the latest in a series of trade spats between the world’s two largest economies.
US government lawyers estimate the duties hit 90 percent of exporters in the sector, obliterating a market that had been worth about US$1 billion before duties were announced in September last year.
As the US struggles to recover jobs lost during the global financial crisis, many lawmakers blame Chinese trade and currency policies for the country’s economic woes.
US Trade Representative Ron Kirk on Tuesday called on China to “play by the rules,” branding the series of Chinese duties on US chicken exports as “inconsistent” with WTO regulations.
Kirk accused Beijing of putting 300,000 US agricultural jobs at risk.
Facing pressure to create jobs at home, Kirk played up Washington’s role as a champion of US workers.
“The [US President Barack] Obama administration will once again take action to hold China accountable for commitments that it made when it joined the World Trade Organization,” he said. “We will not stand still if we believe that China has violated its commitments as a WTO member and is therefore threatening American jobs — in this case hundreds of thousands of American poultry industry jobs. Our actions against China simply demonstrate that the United States is prepared to take every measure necessary to stand up for American workers by ensuring that China — or any of our other trading partners — does not misuse laws to prevent exports of US products.”
Tuesday’s announcement was cheered by industry groups.
“The US industry greatly appreciates the determination that Ambassador Kirk and his staff have shown to address this significant trade problem,” the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council said in a statement. “[We are] hopeful that the case will proceed on an expeditious schedule, and that there will be a timely and satisfactory resolution that enforces US rights under the WTO.”
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