A recent US act that blocks China's poultry exports to the US market smacks of "trade protectionism" and will affect 20 million Chinese farmers, according to the poultry industry.

The US House of Representatives earlier this month passed the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008. It stipulates that "none of the funds made available in this Act may be used to establish or implement a rule allowing poultry products to be imported into the United States from the People's Republic of China."

Without permits from certain rules, Chinese poultry products could have no access to the US market.