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WSJ supports Vietnam’s tra and basa fish
The US Wall Street Journal has run an editorial calling on President Barack Obama to cease trade disputes relating to Vietnam’s tra and basa fish.
The editorial said “The U.S Department of Agriculture is considering re-classifing the Vietnamese pangasius as catfish when applying the 2008 Farm Bill, a regulatory process mandated by law,” under which catfish are subject to more stringent inspections than pangasius.
“Since Vietnam would not be able to carry out inspections cheaply or quickly, it would effectively amount to an import ban,” it said.
According to the editorial, House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank sent a letter to the Department of Agriculture last month, noting that the effective ban will threaten workers in the US fish processing industry as his Massachusetts district is home to several processing plants that handle Vietnamese fish.
There are no serious concerns about the safety of Vietnamese fish imports, it said, adding that “what gives the game away is the linguistic back flip of the US catfish industry, which has fretted over Vietnamese competition for years.”
It is fact that in 2002, American catfish producers persuaded Congress to pass a law stating the Vietnamese fish are not catfish and couldn’t be marketed as such. But calling the imports “tra” and “basa” didn’t deter US consumers from buying the product, US catfish producers successfully petitioned Washington to impose antidumping duties of between 36 and 64 percent instead.
Now American producers are willing to call the Vietnamese imports catfish again simply because it is subject to stricter regulations under the new law.
The Vietnamese fish are gaining in the market because they freeze well and are sturdy enough to process for products such as fish sticks. They are also more affordable than US fish, the editorial wrote, adding that blocking tra and basa fish imports will mean fewer options and higher prices for US consumers.
VietNamNet, vietnamplus
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