China announced yesterday it will impose a second round of tariffs on imports of US chicken products of as much as 31.4 per cent, raising the temperature in the ongoing trade tussles between the two countries.
The commerce ministry said the new tariffs were a response to what it said were unfair subsidies given to poultry farmers in the US. The duties come on top of tariffs of up to 105.4 per cent that China placed on US poultry two months ago because of alleged dumping.
The new tariffs come at a time when economic friction between the two countries appeared to be relaxing, after the US Treasury department delayed its decision over whether to label China a currency manipulator and signals from Beijing that it will abandon its dollar peg.