Journal of Chinese Economic and Foreign Trade Studies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to conduct a comparative study on the transatlantic similarities and dissimilarities in the USA's and the EU's poultry trade disputes with China, as a case study of murky protectionism amid the current global financial crisis.

Design/methodology/approach – The case history is explored chronologically, supported with relevant legal documents. For comparative purposes, the poultry trade profiles concerning these trade partners are overviewed before the case study.

Findings – The paper concludes from the case study that there is a great deal of synchronicity between the murky protectionism and the current global crisis within the current WTO framework, due to both pressures faced by some governments from inside and the inherent limitations of the WTO agreements and dispute settlement mechanism. Comparatively, the EU's approach to poultry dispute with China is more scientific, while the USA's is more political.

Research limitations/implications – As the Sino-US poultry dispute is still outstanding, pending for the panel's report, the findings are interim, and the implications only tentative. In short, the lessons learnt from this comparative case study is that unilateral capacity building might be the only concrete thing Chinese exporters and authorities can do at present stage under the current WTO legal framework, amid the tidal wave of the current global crisis.

Originality/value – The paper examines trade disputes over the same commodity China involved with two pivotal trade partners, in order to explore underlying differences; and lessons drawn for China.