Vietnam asks US’s DOC to reconsider its seafood ban
(VOVWORLD) - The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said on Monday that last Wednesday it informed related agencies about the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at the US Department of Commerce (DOC)’s refusal to recognize 12 Vietnamese seafood occupations under the US Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).
Under its decision, seafood exploited by those fisheries may not be imported into the US after January 1, 2026. This amounts to an import ban that will halt the export of many key Vietnamese seafood species to the US.
To protect the interests of domestic seafood enterprises, VASEP called for urgent and long-term measures from the Government and relevant ministries to help the Vietnamese seafood industry access the US seafood market by avoiding the ban.
On Monday, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien sent a letter to US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, asking DOC and NOAA to reconsider the decision to avoid serious disruptions to bilateral trade and protect the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fishermen and seafood industry workers.
In the letter, Mr. Dien asked Mr. Lutnick to ensure reasonable results for Vietnamese shrimp export businesses in the ongoing 19th administrative review of anti-dumping duty on Vietnamese shrimp imports. Vietnam is committed to continued close cooperation with the United States to resolve outstanding issues in a constructive manner, said Mr. Dien.