(VOVworld) – The Vietnam Competition Authority under Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade said of the US Department of Commerce’s decision to impose anti-subsidy duties on frozen shrimp imported from Vietnam, that it does not fully reflect the essence of the matter.

Pham Huong Giang, Deputy Head of the Trade Remedies Board, the Vietnam Competition Authority under Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade

In a conversation with a VOV reporter on Thursday, Pham Huong Giang, Deputy Head of the Trade Remedies Board, said the Vietnamese government has consistently maintained that it does not provide any subsidy to any enterprise which manufactures and exports Vietnamese frozen shrimp. Giang told us: “Vietnamese enterprises and the Vietnamese government fully cooperated with US agencies investigating the matter, providing documents that show that the Vietnamese government does not subsidize and the Vietnamese enterprises have not received any government subsidy. But the US Department of Commerce issued its final decision saying that there are subsidies and immediately imposed anti-subsidy duties. The decision does not fully reflect the essence of the matter”.

The Vietnam Fisheries Association issued a statement protesting the DOC’s decision. According to the Association, imposing anti-subsidy duties on raised shrimp products to protect the Coalition of the Gulf Shrimp Association is unreasonable and is not consistent with the World Trade Organization’s agreement on technical barriers. This decision seriously impacts the lives of 600,000 workers in Vietnam’s shrimp production industry, hurts American consumers, and runs counter to the trend of Vietnam-US cooperation that the two countries have been working hard to improve. The Vietnam Fisheries Association has called on the US to revoke this decision.