Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade and the United States Trade Representative (USTR) have formalised a bilateral agreement that resolves an anti-dumping dispute over Vietnamese pangasius fillets.
The agreement, signed on 17 January 2025, puts an end to the dispute under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) case DS536.
Under the agreement, Vĩnh Hoàn Corporation, the leading Vietnamese exporter of pangasius, is exempted from anti-dumping tariffs when exporting these products to the US market.
It marks the second time that Vietnam and the US have reached a bilateral deal to resolve a WTO dispute, following the 2016 agreement on warmwater shrimp (DS429), which resulted in the removal of anti-dumping tariffs on shrimp from Minh Phú Seafood Corporation.
The implementation of the WTO ruling further strengthens the relationship between the two countries, with ties recently augmented through a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
The dispute began in 2018 when Vietnam filed a case against the US at the WTO over the anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese pangasius exports.
The United States is one of the largest importers and consumers of Vietnamese pangasius, primarily in the form of frozen fillets. However, in recent years, the country has significantly increased its imports of value-added pangasius products.
According to data from Vietnam Customs, the export value of value-added pangasius to the US exceeded US$2 million in November 2024, which was 42 times higher than in November 2023.
During the first 11 months of 2024, exports of these products to the US exceeded $12 million, a 2,182% surge compared to the same period last year. This represents the highest export value for value-added pangasius in the past decade since 2015.
In the first 11 months of 2024, the US primarily imported value-added pangasius products from Vietnam under HS Code 16041990. These include frozen breaded pangasius fingers, breaded pangasius fillets and frozen breaded pangasius nuggets. Exports under this code accounted for 99.9% of the total value-added pangasius export value to the US during this period.
