The ruling came just 20 months after Washington and Hanoi signed a bilateral trade pact, which ostensibly lowered trade barriers between the two countries. Vietnam’s exports to the United States—especially garments, shoes, seafood, and furniture—more than doubled in 2002 to $2.4 billion. In the first five months of this year exports nearly tripled compared to the same period the year before. Vietnam had captured 20 percent of the U.S. frozen catfish-fillet market.

Next possible target of the trade commission: Vietnam’s shrimp exports to the United States, which last year were worth more than $466 million compared to catfish exports of $55 million.

The ruling follows measures already taken that severely affected Vietnam’s sale of catfish to the United States. Last year, Congress declared that out of 2,000 types of catfish only the American-born family could be labeled “catfish.” The Vietnamese were forced to market their catfish using the terms “basa” and “tra.”

Even though there was no evidence that the imported fish were being sold in the United States more cheaply than in Vietnam, or below its cost of production, the U.S. Commerce Department declared that since Vietnam has a “nonmarket” economy there was something suspect going on and imposed tariffs ranging from 37 percent to 64 percent. The commission ruling makes these tariffs permanent.

The July 22 New York Times noted the impact of these measures in Vietnam. Tran Vu Long is a 35-year-old Vietnamese catfish farmer who lives atop his floating fish trap. He recently sold 40 tons worth at a loss of $2,000—a small fortune there—due to plummeting prices caused by the oversupply resulting from loss of the U.S. market.

In 1994 the U.S. rulers lifted a trade embargo on Vietnam that had been in place since 1975, when the Vietnamese people defeated U.S. imperialism in the Vietnam War. With the lifting of the embargo, the signing of the trade pact, and the implementation of “market reforms” designed to open the country to the capitalist market, the Vietnamese government hoped to give a boost to the economy that was devastated by Washington’s brutal war.

“The United States preaches free trade, but as soon as we start benefiting from it, they change their tune,” Tran Vu Long told the Times.  
 
 
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