Expert: US recognition of China poultry inspections shows pragmatism – Global Times

Following Xinhua’s news that China is considering to remove restrictions on poultry imports from the United States, Global Times recently crossed wires while saying that the United States (US) Federal Register has carried a notice announcing Washington's recognition of China's poultry-product inspection systems, the first time since China proposed such exports to the US in 2004.

Key quotes

A Chinese expert said on Sunday this is a positive move toward reaching a bilateral trade deal and a sign that the two governments are being more pragmatic in trade negotiations.

A document published on the website of the US Federal Register on Friday said that the US has confirmed the equivalence of poultry-product inspection systems between the two countries. 

China thus joins a list of countries including Canada, Mexico, and Chile that are eligible to export cooked poultry products to the US.

The US move could lower the cost of China's exports of such products to the US and promote free trade between the two countries, Li Guoxiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"Food safety in the US is very strict, and the US used to use food standards to increase the cost of importing such products to create trade barriers for trade protectionism," Li said, adding that "recognizing China's inspection system of such products means the US is removing the trade barriers in this field."

"Focusing on specific products also means that the two governments are pushing toward a more pragmatic solution," Li said.

FX implication

Although early-Monday morning in Asia limits the market reaction to the news, this might diffuse the recent trade tension triggered through the US-side step back from earlier speculations that the US and China both agreed to roll back tariffs. As a result, the AUD/USD pair could rise from the current level around 0.6860.