CHIRONY

For American expats living in Beijing, there will obviously be large ramifications from Obama’s tire tariff that will be put in to effect this month. For one, many cab drivers will love questioning us about what we personally think about the tariffs, and whether or not we agree with our President. For its part, the Chinese government’s reaction has been to appeal to the WTO, and to announce that they will enact their own retaliatory tariffs on American car parts and chicken.

But I imagine that Chinese cab driver are chatty no matter who they pick up, and I can just imagine the conversation about this new set of tariffs that might take place between two Chinese locals. After the initial bashing of protectionist trade policy and maybe some unprintable comments about our President’s race, I imagine that the biggest complaint will be that the new tariff against American chicken will severely curtail their access to higher quality American chicken feet.

Because the Chinese don’t differentiate between white and dark chicken meat and don’t prefer white meat, they haven’t started feeding their chickens hormones to increase the size of the chicken breasts – at least, not as part of company policies. By comparison, we love our boneless skinless chicken breasts, and therefore produce enormously fat, force-fed birds whose legs have become more muscled in an attempt to support their unnaturally engorged bodies.

According to Tyson, selling chicken feet in the Chinese market is more than twenty seven times more profitable than selling them at home. A chicken foot can only fetch 2 cents in the U.S., but in China, where it is considered part delicacy, part tasty pre-packaged snack, the American chicken production companies can ear up to 55 cents. According to Beijing-based China Meat Association, the country’s per capita urban meat consumption increased by 87% from 17 kg in 1979 to 31.8 kg in 2007. Not to mention, as wealth reaches more and more Chinese, they will begin to shy away from buying meat in traditional wet markets and towards packaged meats in grocery stores.

So this tariff is clearly a huge loss for the American chicken industry. But it will also mean less chewy goodness for Chinese citizens with joint problems who believe that the extra minerals and gelatin in chicken feet will alleviate their arthritis and minor joint aches alike. They’ll just have to make due with the chicken with smaller breasts and smaller legs if the Chinese government goes through with its plan.

But don’t worry. In my office, we have enough pre-packaged, spicy chicken feet to build a very creepy fort or to sustain ourselves in the case we get locked in our office for the next month due to military parade practices.

While we wait for the paramilitary to let us out of the diplomatic compound,  I can only hope that the American and Chinese governments will stop engaging in protectionist one-up-manship, and that cab drivers can go back to lecturing about harmonious societies and cursing Beijing traffic under their breath.