similar issues on other items. We have very complicated import regimes (including duties, quotas, etc...) on things like shoes and textiles. However, the Pangasius case stands in a unique position for a couple of reasons.

In every other case, Vietnam is part of a network of other global producers -- perhaps a significant (and definitely growing) network -- but a still a wide network and they certainly aren't naive, so they understand the game in which they are playing. Even if that game has its issues, it is one in which you enter into with your eyes open and hope you can ultimately improve. With the fish, they literally invented the Pangasius industry and even 15+ years later and have adhered to every reasonable international standard and expectation put to them. No other country has been able to approach what they can do there (for a variety of reasons, some natural to the area) -- so this battle is just so much more Vietnam-centered. Since it began, forces here have tried to smear and stop the product a variety of ways -- the biggest of which have included "rigging new rules" in ways that have just been astonishing. They are shipping product all over the world, but the U.S was one of the original markets and has represented about 20% of their exports of this product. It is also a very labor-intensive industry and in some traditionally more rural areas, so a lot of jobs there which are not in more industrial centers doing some of the other manufacturing.

The battle against things has been unique in much of its tactics and language. People and groups may preach against imports in general for a variety of reasons, but this one has been laced with extreme nastiness from the start --- accusations about safety and quality which are brazenly false and particularly ugly with the support such tactics have received from elected officials. I have seen firsthand rhetoric from Senate staff, for example, urging support on the basis of disgustingly false lies about health and safety, and there have been media campaigns using language such as "this fish couldn't spell the word U.S. if it tried". I've seen other officials say things like "hey, we need to be worried about Agent Orange in our fish...". Charming (and incidentally, demonstrably false given the transparent level of testing and regulatory oversight already in place). There is just an entire battle against this product that is not part of the normal anti-trade rhetoric. People can form their own conclusions as to perhaps why, but it has just been something that has always been one of the more disheartening things I have ever experienced -- the ugliness of which is only highlighted more when thinking about how recent the Vietnam War was actually taking place.