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US Senator warns against trade barriers to Vietnam’s fish
American Senator Max Baucus has sharply criticized the US catfish farming industry’s effort to raise barriers to imports of ‘pangasius’ and ‘tra’ fish from Vietnam.
Baucus, a Democrat, is chairman of the US Senate’s powerful Finance Committee. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), his opposition to a de facto US trade barriers against Vietnam’s fish is driven by concern that Vietnam could impose retaliatory curbs on imports of US beef.
Montana, Baucus’ home state, is a leading US beef producer. The WSJ says that Vietnam is the fifth-largest export market for US beef, where American ranchers earned $131 million in 2008.
In a July 14 opinion column, the WSJ explains the protectionist scheme this way:
At issue is the possibility that the Department of Agriculture (USDA) could effectively ban imports of pangasius fish, which is similar to U.S.-produced catfish, from [Vietnam]. The ostensible reason for the move would be food safety -- USDA is considering whether the Vietnamese fish should be subject to a stricter safety inspection regime. But there have been no reported cases of Vietnamese fish sickening American consumers, and the proposed inspections would be so onerous they would amount to ban at least for several years. This is an attempt at protectionism-by-regulation from domestic catfish producers and their supporters in Congress, who gave USDA this regulatory option in the last farm bill.
Commenting on the proposed regulation, Senator Baucus told reporters for Congress Daily that “"U.S. agricultural products, including safe, high-quality Montana beef, face unscientific trade restrictions in many important markets. If we expect other countries to follow the rules and drop these restrictions, it is critical that we play by the rules and do not block imports for arbitrary or unscientific reasons."
VietNamNet, Wall Street Journal
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