The World Trade Organization on August 2 ruled in favor of the U.S. in a dispute where China imposed antidumping tariffs that restricted U.S. chicken exports. The World Trade Organization determined that the antidumping tariffs imposed by China on U.S. chicken exports were inconsistent with international trade rules.
Now that the World Trade Organization has reached a decision, the U.S. poultry industry hopes the issue can be put to rest and trade relations that are mutually beneficial can be restored between the Chinese and U.S. poultry industries.
The Chinese antidumping case dates back three years, after China accused the U.S. of dumping and imposed tariffs on imports of chicken products. In the Chinese antidumping case, China alleged U.S. chicken producers benefited from subsidies and were exporting poultry at unfair prices. U.S. poultry interests quickly appealed to the World Trade Organization.
"We immediately realized the long-term implications that this case could have had for our industry's exports," said Jim Sumner, president of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council. "We knew we could not wait to act. That's why when this case was initiated three years ago, our board and executive committee did not hesitate to hire the best legal counsel available to pursue our options on behalf of our industry."
The USA Poultry & Egg Export Council praised U.S. government officials, including U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and former U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, for their efforts to bring fairness to U.S. poultry producers.
