High duties on poultry spell trouble

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) Sen. Blanche Lincoln, chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, says a move by China to finalize high duties on poultry imported from the U.S. is likely to lead to heightened tension between the two countries.
Lincoln, D-Ark., issued a joint news release Monday with Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., ranking minority-party member of the committee, about the announcement from China.
The release said the anti-dumping duties in place since February range from 43 percent up to 105.4 percent. According to the senators' statement, the duties are based on a judgment that the U.S. subsidizes its poultry growers, but that is a faulty interpretation of the facts.
Chambliss said that claim is questionable since U.S. government policy actually increases the price of a key supply element for the poultry industry, feed grains.