WTO Raps U.S. Ban On Chinese Chicken Imports

GENEVA – U.S. measures that effectively banned imports of Chinese cooked chicken broke international trade rules and caused injury to China's economy, a World Trade Organization dispute panel said on Wednesday.

The U.S. measures challenged by China were unscientific and discriminatory, the panel found.

The ruling, in one of several trade disputes between China and the United States, came as the U.S. House of Representatives prepared to vote on a bill declaring China's undervalued currency a subsidy and clearing the way for duties to be imposed on some Chinese imports as a countermeasure.

The chicken dispute originated like many trade rows in health concerns — in this case U.S. nervousness about Chinese poultry following outbreaks of bird flu in Asia.

Because of these worries, the U.S. Congress included a clause in a spending bill preventing the U.S. authorities from taking measures to process imports of Chinese chicken.

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