China Accuses US of Dumping Chicken, Auto Parts

US-China trade tensions escalated yesterday when Beijing announced it was investigating whether the US dumped auto parts and chicken products onto the Chinese market, the LA Times reports. An expert calls the retaliatory move, which comes days after the White House slapped a 35% import tariff on Chinese tires, "a turning point in US-China relations, likely to represent a trend toward subtle, if not overt, forms of protectionism from both sides."

"American business in China should be prepared for what might be a zealous retaliatory response," cautions the expert. President Obama's new duty on Chinese tires, levied in response to union claims that a flood of cheap Chinese tires had cost thousands of US jobs, pleased organized labor but angered US business interests and infuriated Beijing.
(More China stories.)