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Duties on poultry, the latest act in the trade war
The United States has lodged a formal complaint against China at the World Trade Organisation for duties imposed on exports of poultry from Beijing. This is only the latest case, in order of time, in a no-holds-barred confrontation between the two powers.
Peking (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The United States has lodged a formal complaint against China at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). According to Washington, Peking violated international law last year when it imposed duties on exports of American poultry.
According to Ron Kirk, the U.S. representative at the WTO, tariffs have hit a sector that employs about 300 thousand people, in addition, the rates have doubled the price of poultry, nearly eliminating demand for it. This is just the latest in a series of cases that have pitted the U.S. and China against one another at the Organisation. Washington has already submitted several complaints regarding the duties imposed by the Asian giant on steel products and derivatives, which are essential for the installation of wind turbines. Because of this situation, the U.S. government, led by Barack Obama, has been the target of the Republican opposition: they want to respond to the duties with sanctions against China, guilty of maintaining the value of its national currency artificially low.
The trade war between the two economic giants, however, is likely to continue along these lines. Just yesterday, the American ambassador to Beijing, Gary Locke, asked Communist officials to ensure "increased access" to the internal market to foreign actors, in order to respond to the "growing frustration" of non-Chinese industrialists and to "respond to the needs of a increasingly developing China."