Faced with the US applying a 46% reciprocal tax rate, and fearing that Vietnamese seafood will lose its market, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) sent an “urgent” petition to the Prime Minister and relevant ministries and agencies.

The livelihoods of hundreds of fishermen are “threatened”

According to Vasep, the US is a large, traditional and leading market for seafood in the world, including Vietnam. Vietnam's annual seafood export turnover to the US is about 2 billion USD, accounting for 1/5 of Vietnam's seafood export value. This market is not only holding the number 1 market share but also has a high orientation for the Vietnamese seafood industry.

Of which, 70% of export products are farmed seafood (shrimp, pangasius, mollusks, other freshwater fish) which are associated with the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of farmers in the localities. Similarly, 30% of export products are from exploited seafood - the livelihood and source of living of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fishermen. The US is the number 1 import market for shrimp, tuna, and the number 2 market for Vietnamese pangasius.

Currently, there are more than 400 Vietnamese enterprises exporting and planning to export seafood to the US market with large, high-value orders. In the context of high competition and anti-dumping tax, the main method of transporting seafood products is DDP (Delivery to Warehouse) when exporting to the US, which means that Vietnamese enterprises must pay all costs (transportation, insurance, tax) before delivery and wait for payment from US partners. Therefore, the new tax rate makes Vietnamese seafood enterprises panic and worry about the possibility of losing this large market and the huge losses with many shipments being transported to the US that may be subject to a high tax rate of 46%.

Preliminary statistics show that there are currently about 37,500 tons of various seafood products being transported to the US.

According to the quick, preliminary and incomplete statistics of the VASEP Association on the morning of April 3, as soon as the news of the US imposing a high tax rate of 46% was announced, there are currently about 37,500 tons of various types of seafood being transported to the US, and about 31,500 tons of goods are expected to be exported in April-May 2025, with many orders signed for 2025 of about 38,500 tons.

Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam, General Secretary of VASEP emphasized: “These are extremely large preliminary figures for the seafood industry, not only the assets of Vietnamese farmers, fishermen and businesses, but more importantly, the livelihoods and investments, production plans prepared to supply the US market are threatened”.

Also related to the US's reciprocal tax rate, information from the People's Committee of Ca Mau province, the Chairman of the province has just issued a document directing the review and assessment of the impact on the seafood industry from the US's application of import tax on goods from Vietnam.

The situation is forecast to seriously affect the seafood production, processing and export industry, especially the shrimp industry. The Chairman of the People's Committee of Ca Mau province has requested the Department of Industry and Trade to preside over and coordinate with the Department of Finance, the Department of Agriculture and Environment, the Association of Seafood Processing and Export of Ca Mau province and seafood processing and exporting enterprises in the province to urgently review and comprehensively assess the impact of the US's application of tax rates on the production, processing and export of seafood in Ca Mau province.

Reduce tax rates to match Americans' incomes

Faced with this urgent situation, the VASEP Association recommends that the Prime Minister and ministries and branches soon have a plan to negotiate with the US Government to help the seafood industry. Specifically, determine the unified timeline for applying the new import tax rate with the US Government and request the US Government to notify the US Customs agency to apply the "load onto vessels" timeline as the export date specified on the B/L".

Negotiate to reduce the tax rate to the most appropriate level - based on the fact that: Vietnam does not manipulate currency (according to the latest US Treasury report). The trade surplus is the result of the global supply chain in which many products and brands have the participation of a number of US businesses. Agricultural and aquatic products are essential consumer goods for the people, so it is recommended that the US Government consider a tax rate appropriate to the income of US consumers.

In the supply chain of the aquaculture industry, Vietnam is and will continue to import thousands of tons of soybean meal from the US with the current import tax rate of 0%.

Accordingly, negotiating with the US Government does not apply the 46% rate to all items, it is necessary to separate the tax rate applied to each goods according to the list of goods exported to the US with corresponding tax rates.

At the same time, the Vietnamese Government is considering proactively reducing import tax to 0% for aquatic products imported from the US. In particular, special attention is paid to key products such as shrimp, tuna, etc. because in reality, Vietnam's seafood imports from the US are insignificant and even almost non-existent.

Source: Kinh Te Nong Thon Newspaper