Struggling U.S. wheat sector cheers trade action against China

U.S. wheat farmers, struggling to make money as prices sink and global supplies swell, could be the main beneficiaries if Washington wins a case it brought last week against China over an estimated $100 billion in domestic grain market supports.  On Tuesday, U.S. trade officials said they would file a case at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against China over allegations that aggressive pricing supports prompted Chinese farmers to overproduce corn, wheat and rice, fueling a global crop glut and depressing world prices.  This is the latest salvo in fraught trade relationships between the world's leading agricultural producers.  More than half of the Obama administration's 23 complaints to the WTO have been against China and the two countries are also embroiled in bilateral trade deal discussions and a Chinese investigation into alleged dumping of animal feed grains by U.S. producers.  The U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) announcement comes less than two months before a presidential election in the United States and with a debate over the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement looming.  China came under scrutiny last year from consultants commissioned by U.S. farm and trade groups in 2011 to look into exporting issues. Subsidies in China were "the biggest problem, even though there were serious problems with some of the other countries," said Craig Thorn, a partner at the consulting firm, DTB Associates.