BEIJING – In a report posted on the Web site of The Ministry of Commerce for the The People’s Republic of China, import tariffs of up to 105.4% will be placed on American poultry. China’s trade officials said the tariffs are in response to its antidumping probe, which investigated whether the United States was harming China’s poultry industry by exporting chicken parts for less than it cost to produce them.

The investigation into poultry dumping began a year ago, after Obama introduced a tariff on Chinese tire imports, according to the report.


This past month, a business group determined that tariff accomplished exactly nothing in terms of saving U.S. jobs in the tire industry.

In a statement sent to MEATPOULTRY.com from the National Chicken Council, the organization explained China’s Ministry of Commerce announced over the weekend it would confirm so-called “antidumping” duties on U.S. chicken that were originally imposed on a temporary basis in February.

“These are in addition to countervailing duties, confirmed earlier this month, to offset what China sees as subsidies to the industry,” N.C.C. stated. “Both sets of duties have been in effect since February, so this is not a new burden on trade. In fact, the U.S. poultry industry does not engage in dumping and does not receive subsidies. China’s actions followed the tariffs imposed by the U.S. on automotive tires made in China and U.S. Congressional action against the proposed export to the U.S. of cooked poultry products of Chinese origin.

“It is unfortunate that U.S. poultry exports have fallen victim to disputes over international trade policy,” N.C.C. continued. “For the period January to July 2010, the poultry trade with China was running at about 13 percent of its volume for the same period in 2009.”