Romania faces US retaliation over stance on poultry imports

The US government is threatening to play hardball with Romania over the eastern European country's refusal to accept imports of American poultry, unless production plants meet European Union (EU) rules, especially on welfare.

No US plants are EU-approved, and, faced with a halt to poultry exports to Romania, the US government is threatening to scrap a wide range of trade benefits, under its 'generalised system of preferences' regime.

A key rule, said the US Trade Representative (USTR) is beneficiary countries must not give "preferential treatment to the products of a developed country, other then the United States", damaging US commerce.

With Romania joining the EU in January, Washington claims a mea culpa, and is consulting on imposing retaliatory duties or quotas.

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