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A NEW dispute is brewing between those old foes of Vietnam and the United States - but this time it is over fish.
The US has threatened to impose anti dumping tariffs on some varieties of Vietnamese seafood, but the exporters have threatened to take action in retaliation.
Vietnam is a major exporters of seafood, especially the farmed pangasius (catfish) variety to both North America and Europe, and it is this species (sometimes called basa) which is at the heart of the dispute.
Exporters made their views known at the office of the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers in Ho Chi Minh City after the US Department of Commerce unofficially said the anti-dumping tariffs on Vietnamese panagisius ( also known as tra fish) could reach $4.22 per kilo, equalling 130 per cent of the selling price of the Vietnamese tra fish in the US market. The Vietnamese have warned that the level of anti dumping tariff runs counter to the letter and free trade spirit between the two countries. In an open letter sent to the Vietnamese Government and to the US Ambassador in Vietnam the Vietnamese exporters expressed indignation and concern over the US Department of Commerce preliminary antidumping duty rates. They say it is the sixth administrative review applied to Vietnam’s tra frozen fillets exported to the US. The duty rates are in excess of 100 percent, far exceeding any prior rates in this unfair dumping case lasting more than eight years, and clearly amounting to a punitive tariff on Vietnamese fish fillet exports, say the exporters.
They maintain that the growing popularity of pangasius or tra fish in the American market had resulted in the Catfish Farmers of America lobbying against their seafood products. Both countries are expected to discuss the dispute in the next few weeks.
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