Washington is challenging China at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over broiler chicken products, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman announced Tuesday.
The United States claimed that China failed to conduct a transparent re-investigation, nor properly calculated costs of production for a U.S. producer.
In response, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday that it regrets the U.S. decision and will deal with the issue according to the WTO dispute settlement process.
China imposed anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on chicken products imported from the Unites States in September 2010, saying that such products were subsidized in the Unites States and were dumped on the Chinese market.
Washington requested consultation with Beijing immediately after China imposed duties and then appealed to the WTO in September 2011.
The WTO Dispute Settlement Body adopted a panel report about the poultry dispute in September 2013, which upheld the U.S. claims that China acted inconsistently with certain rules on the issue but supported China's arguments regarding determination of domestic industry and trade level differences.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce launched a re-investigation in December 2013 in response to the WTO ruling .
In July 2014, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce ruled that the re-investigation of U.S. chicken products still found evidence of dumping and subsidization that caused substantial harm to the local industry.
Meanwhile, the ministry lowered its anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on imported U.S. chicken products to the range of 46.6 percent to 73.8 percent, and 4 percent to 4.2 percent, respectively.
