US Planning WTO Challenge on Chinese AD/CV Duties on US Broiler Chickens

The U.S. is claiming that China’s antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of U.S. broiler chickens violate World Trade Organization rules, and plans to file an associated challenge through the multilateral body, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said (here). “These duties, which act as high taxes on American poultry exports to China, have remained despite a WTO report that previously found China to be breaching its WTO obligations,” the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement. “Now, the United States is challenging these taxes on behalf of American poultry producers and the hundreds of thousands of people employed in the poultry industry.” This is the 12th WTO case the Obama administration has brought against China, said the statement.

The WTO's 2013 panel report, the "China-Broiler Products" dispute, ruled in favor of more than a dozen U.S. claims that China breached WTO rules, but Beijing in 2014 completed an investigation and issued a redetermination, which identifies new rationales for justifying its duties on U.S. broiler products, said the USTR press release. The U.S. believes the investigation and redetermination also violate WTO rules, and its expected challenge is the result of discussions with U.S. stakeholders since 2014, USTR said. Four senators from major chicken-producing states—Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., John Boozman, R-Ark., Tom Carper, D-Del., and Chris Coons, D-Del.—all voiced their support for the action during a May 10 Capitol Hill press conference, subsequently joined by a statement from Senate Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of Wyden's statement.