Viet Nam has filed a complaint to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against the United States’ anti-dumping measures on Vietnamese fish export.

This was announced by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on Sunday.

According to the WTO filing, Viet Nam is seeking consultations with the US government about certain American anti-dumping regulations, practices and determinations in administrative reviews on fish fillet from Viet Nam.

According to the Nhan dan (People) newspaper, Viet Nam has accused the US of improper use of zeroing methodology that results in a higher level of anti-dumping duties on foreign producers, as well as other practices inconsistent with WTO.

Viet Nam has also voiced concern that the US has broken rules on dispute settlement while turning down Vietnamese exporters’ request for a revocation of the anti-dumping measures, although they are eligible for such a revocation.

The request for consultation is the first mandatory step in WTO’s dispute settlement procedure.

The US will have 60 days to resolve the complaint, failing which Viet Nam can request adjudication from WTO.

This is the fourth time Viet Nam has initiated a dispute at WTO, after two previous complaints against the US’ anti-dumping measures on certain shrimps from Viet Nam and one against Indonesia’s safeguards on certain Vietnamese steel products.

In 2017, Viet Nam gained a year-on-year increase of 5.5 per cent in total export value of tra catfish to US$1.75 billion. China was the largest market for the export of Vietnamese tra fish products, while the US ranked second. — VNS