Vietnam sues US over anti-dumping tax

HANOI - Vietnam has filed a lawsuit with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over anti-dumping tax imposed by the US on its frozen shrimp, Xinhua reported Thursday.

Vietnamese foreign ministry spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga made the announcement here Thursday. This is the first time Vietnam takes such an action since it joined the WTO in January 2007.

Nga said the US decision to apply anti-dumping tax on Vietnamese frozen shrimp is irrational and unfair. Vietnamese enterprises do not dump this product in the US market.

At the meeting of WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) April 20, Vietnam requested the DSB to establish a panel on inquiring the US anti-dumping measures on frozen shrimp from Vietnam, said Nga.

In November 2004, the US Commerce Department said Vietnam was dumping frozen shrimps in the US market. The anti-dumping tax rates for Vietnamese shrimp exporters were fixed between 4.13 and 25.76 percent.

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the country exported 210,000 tonnes of shrimp in 2009 and earned $1.67 billion, up 9.4 percent in volume and three percent in value over the past year.