HCMC – Vietnam has called on the United States to reverse its refusal to recognize the equivalency of 12 Vietnamese seafood harvesting methods, a decision that would block imports of those products from January 1, 2026.
On September 15, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien wrote to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick urging the Department of Commerce (DOC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to review their decision made under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).
The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said the move effectively amounts to an import ban, which would severely affect shipments of major Vietnamese seafood products to the U.S., including tuna, swordfish, grouper, mackerel, mullet, crab, squid and scad.
If unchanged, the ruling will prohibit seafood caught using the 12 methods from entering the U.S. market starting January 1, 2026.
The request, Dien said, aims to prevent serious disruptions to bilateral trade and protect the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fishermen and workers.
He also urged Washington to ensure an objective outcome in the 19th anti-dumping duty review on imported shrimp, stressing that Vietnamese shrimp exporters are reliable and fair partners in the U.S. market.
Dien added that the decisions will carry significant consequences not only for Vietnamese producers, exporters, farmers, and fishermen but also for U.S. importers, workers, and consumers.
U.S. seafood imports from Vietnam totaled about US$905 million in the first half of this year, up nearly 18% from the same period in 2024, data from VASEP showed.
