Anti-trade sentiment among U.S. voters – fanned by rhetoric in the 2016 presidential campaign – could work to disrupt U.S. efforts to restore trade with China in chicken leg quarters and paws, according to Jim Sumner, president, USA Poultry & Egg Export Council. Pew polling earlier in 2016 showed most Democrats supporting trade (60 percent), but anti-trade sentiments surging among Republicans (with 40 percent calling free trade a good thing vs. 52 percent seeing it as a bad thing). Supporters of presidential candidate Donald Trump are especially anti-trade (67 percent viewed it as negative vs. 27 percent positive). “It’s not just the Trump factor,” Sumner said. “The current sentiment among U.S. consumers is basically anti-trade. I am not sure how this happened but consumer polling around the United States shows that they think that ‘trade’ is a dirty, five-letter word.” He urged action by the poultry industry to educate consumers and elected officials about the importance of trade to the poultry industry and general economy.