US chicken imports to start after removal of duties

Anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on white-feathered broiler chickens from the United States have been removed from Tuesday, said the Ministry of Commerce.

The move ended a yearslong dispute between the world's two largest economies amid rising tensions over the trade of agricultural products.

First imposed in 2010, the tariffs were extended for a further five years in 2016.

After investigation, the authorities consider it is no longer necessary to maintain the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures on US white-feathered broiler chickens, the ministry said in an announcement on its website.

The withdrawal of the white-feathered broiler levy shows that China and the US are highly complementary in their economic development, said Zhou Mi, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

"Both consumers and producers from the two sides can benefit from cooperation … It is conducive to the mutual benefits between China and the US in solving the disputes in a constructive manner," Zhou told China Daily.

The removal of penalties came as China's top economic advisor Liu He, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, started his visit to the US on Tuesday. Liu's visit is widely believed to help keep Sino-US relationship on the right track.

So far this year, the US launched four trade investigations involving Chinese exports including steel, aluminum, solar panels, and rubber bands.

China initiated on Feb 4 an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into imports of sorghum from the US.

Wei Jianguo, vice-president of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said Sino-US trade friction is likely to escalate this year.

China and the US could deal with trade conflicts in a positive and mutually beneficial manner, said Wei, also a former vice-minister of commerce.

China is the world's second largest broiler meat consumer. Since 2015, the US has been restricted from the market due to highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks.

US exports of poultry and eggs to China were worth about hundreds of millions of dollars each year before the restrictions.

China's imports of poultry and products are forecast to slightly grow by 4 percent to reach half million metric tons in 2018, according to a report released by US Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service.