THE Obama administration Tuesday brought a fresh challenge to China’s anti-dumping duties on U.S. broiler chicken products at the World Trade Organization in an effort to bring the long-running trade dispute to a close.

    The U.S. Trade Representative’s office said it is making claims that China’s anti-dumping and countervailing duties violate WTO rules, partly because China “failed to properly calculate U.S. poultry production costs.”

    China also “failed to conduct transparent investigations and breached WTO rules” in its finding that U.S. poultry exports have injured Chinese producers, USTR said. The complaint seeks consultations with China on the matter.

    The complaint is the second U.S. WTO objection to China’s 2010 imposition of anti-dumping duties of up to 105.4 percent, and anti-subsidy duties of up to 30.3 percent, on U.S. broiler chicken products.

    In a statement posted on its official website yesterday, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said it regrets the action the United States has taken but will resolve the dispute in accordance with WTO processes.

    It comes as U.S.-China trade tensions are rising. U.S. steel and aluminum producers have filed several major anti-dumping complaints against China in recent weeks with the U.S. Commerce Department and International Trade Commission.

    (SD-Agencies)