On the sidelines of the Conference held by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine on the morning of April 3, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Phung Duc Tien shared about solutions to remove difficulties for Vietnamese agricultural products in the face of US counterpart taxes.
Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien said that when Vietnamese agricultural products are exported to the US market, they have faced many barriers such as anti-dumping, requirements equivalent to standards, but we have overcome them all. In the structure of the agricultural, forestry and fishery export market to more than 200 countries and territories, in 2024, the US will reach a turnover of 13.8 billion USD and be the leading market, followed by China with 13.6 billion USD.
In addition, in the seafood export structure, the export value of aquatic products in the first 3 months of 2025 to the US market reached over 300 million USD, the remaining is the European, China, Japan and other markets. Industries such as pangasius and shrimp are the main export products to the US market.
"With a 46% tax rate, Vietnamese agricultural products will be directly affected. However, in the spirit of "advising constant changes, adapting to constant changes", we need to focus on directing production, improving productivity and quality while reducing costs to compete with other markets", Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien informed.
Mr. Phung Duc Tien also informed about some solutions that the agricultural sector needs to implement immediately to adapt to the new situation such as: Focus on applying science and technology to improve productivity, quality, reduce costs, and meet the standards of the US market. At the same time, it is emphasized that we should expand to other markets to reduce dependence on a single market.
Agriculture and aquaculture will be the sectors most affected when the new counterpart tax rate is applied. To solve the difficulties for the seafood industry, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien gave an example of the US still needing to recognize the equivalent standards of pangasius. For shrimp, still ensuring US food safety standards and export shipments need to minimize the index of heavy metals, microorganisms, antibiotics... to maintain output and value.
"Each export subject has its own "bottleneck" that needs to be unblocked by improving capacity, proactively integrating, increasing output and value," said Mr. Tien.
In addition, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment also said that in the process of increasing taxes, Vietnam still needs to continue to make recommendations to US state management agencies for adjustment. The Ministry will also listen to feedback from associations and businesses to discuss solutions to remove difficulties.
