Posted November 15, 2013
A new catfish inspection program at USDA has created a hurdle for U.S. efforts to reach a trade agreement with 11 Pacific nations by the end of the year, according to an article by the New York Times available here.
The new catfish inspection program at USDA would replace the existing program at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). For more information on this program, a recent post from this blog is available here. American catfish farmers “say the new inspection program would be more rigorous” and “is needed to make sure all domestic and imported catfish is safe to eat.”
Vietnam disagrees, saying the program is a trade barrier. About 250 million pounds of Vietnamese catfish, called pangasius, was exported to the U.S. in 2012, making up over 60 percent of the American market.
While catfish is a small part of the commerce between the 12 nations involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, it is an important industry to Vietnam, where catfish “accounted for $340 million of the country’s $1.3 billion in fish exports to the United States last year.”
Last week, trade officials from Vietnam wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry, the White House, and Congress, threatening trade retaliation through the World Trade Organization (WTO) if the program was not repealed. The letter stated, “Our government is unwilling to sit by as this program is implemented,” and added that American exports of beef, soybeans and other goods to Vietnam could suffer as a result.
The new catfish program was part of the 2008 farm bill, the provision being a victory for Southern lawmakers, primarily Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) who represents the “No. 1 catfish-producing state, Mississippi.”
Food safety groups like Food and Water Watch also supported moving the catfish inspection program to USDA.
Support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership is currently lacking in Congress, as two-thirds of Democrats in the House stated their opposition to “fast-tracking” the agreement, according to a Reuters article available here. Twenty-two House Republicans also expressed concern over the trade agreement.
For more information on food safety and international trade, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website hereand here.
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