WTO rules China failed to comply with an earlier ruling against its punitive tariffs on U.S. broiler chickens.

Jacqui Fatka, Policy editor

January 20, 2018

2 Min Read
U.S. gets another chicken ruling win against China
Leon Neal_Getty Images News

China's measures imposing antidumping and countervailing duties on broiler products from the U.S. have been determined to be wrongly calculated and implemented, according to a review by a World Trade Organization panel.

A U.S. Trade Representative spokesman said, “We welcome the WTO compliance panel finding that China’s measures against U.S. broiler chicken products are unjustified. American poultry farmers and producers deserve fair access to the Chinese market. China must live up to its obligations and remove duties on U.S. poultry products that are inconsistent with its WTO obligations.”

“China expresses regret over the WTO ruling,” the country’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said in a statement late on Thursday.

WTO first issued a decision in 2013, and the latest ruling finds that China has largely failed to comply with the decision. China’s antidumping duties ranged from 46.6% to 73.8% for imports from Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride and Keystone.

The initial U.S. complaint filed in 2011 followed China’s imposition the year earlier of antidumping duties of up to 105.4% and anti-subsidy duties of up to 30.3% on U.S. broiler chicken products.

China's imposition of higher duties on chicken "broiler products" – which was followed by an 80% drop in American exports of those products to China – was determined to be unjustified under international trade rules by WTO in August 2013.

On Sept. 27, 2009, China's MOFCOM initiated antidumping and countervailing investigations of imports of so-called "broiler products" from the U.S. Broiler products include most chicken products, with the exception of live chickens and a few other products such as cooked and canned chicken.

MOFCOM imposed antidumping and countervailing duties on these products on Sept. 26, 2010, and Aug. 30, 2010, respectively. The antidumping duties ranged from 50.3% to 53.4% for the U.S. producers who responded to MOFCOM's investigation notice, while MOFCOM set a rate of 105.4% for "all others."

In the countervailing duty investigation, MOFCOM imposed countervailing duties ranging between 4.0% and 12.5% for the participating U.S. producers and a rate of 30.3% for "all others."

China lowered the duties in 2014 to a maximum of 73.8% and 4.2%, respectively, after WTO ruled in favor of the U.S., but USTR argued again in 2016 that China had not gone far enough to rectify its wrongdoing.

About the Author(s)

Jacqui Fatka

Policy editor, Farm Futures

Jacqui Fatka grew up on a diversified livestock and grain farm in southwest Iowa and graduated from Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications, with a minor in agriculture education, in 2003. She’s been writing for agricultural audiences ever since. In college, she interned with Wallaces Farmer and cultivated her love of ag policy during an internship with the Iowa Pork Producers Association, working in Sen. Chuck Grassley’s Capitol Hill press office. In 2003, she started full time for Farm Progress companies’ state and regional publications as the e-content editor, and became Farm Futures’ policy editor in 2004. A few years later, she began covering grain and biofuels markets for the weekly newspaper Feedstuffs. As the current policy editor for Farm Progress, she covers the ongoing developments in ag policy, trade, regulations and court rulings. Fatka also serves as the interim executive secretary-treasurer for the North American Agricultural Journalists. She lives on a small acreage in central Ohio with her husband and three children.

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