THE United States launched late Thursday a challenge to China’s use of tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) for rice, wheat and corn at the World Trade Organization, charging that China’s administration of the program “breached its WTO commitments and hurt U.S. farm exports.”

    The USTR said global prices for the three commodities were lower than China’s domestic prices, yet the country did not maximize its use of TRQs, which offer lower duties on a certain volume of imported grains every year. The USTR said that limited market access for shipments from the United States and other countries.

    The TRQs for the three commodities were worth more than US$7 billion in 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. China would have imported up to US$3.5 billion more of the crops last year if the quotas had been fully used, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said late Thursday.

    It was the second challenge to China’s agricultural policies by the U.S. Trade Representative since September and the latest in a series of trade disputes between the world’s largest economies.

    China launched last Monday a complaint at the WTO against the United States and Europe after they failed to treat China as a market economy and ease their calculations of anti-dumping duties on Chinese goods.

    The United States in September charged that China’s domestic grain price supports exceeded agreed upon limits when China joined the WTO in 2001. The USTR has since requested that the WTO launch a dispute settlement panel to investigate the matter.

    China is second-largest importer of U.S. agricultural products behind Canada, with US$20.3 billion in purchases last year, according to USDA data.

    Thursday’s action was the 15th trade enforcement challenge against China by the Obama administration at the WTO since 2009.(SD-Agencies)