WASHINGTON, DC— U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon today voted against H.R. 5602, which will authorize the extension of nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations treatment) to the products of Vietnam.  Following the vote, Melancon issued the following statement:

“For years, Vietnam and other developing countries have ‘dumped’ excess seafood on the U.S. market, sending the wholesale price of shrimp into a freefall and crippling Louisiana’s shrimping industry.  Between 2000 and 2003 alone the Gulf and South Atlantic shrimp industry and related businesses lost $4.4 billion in revenue as the wholesale price of dumped shrimp imports dropped 31 percent.  This illegal dumping has cost us thousands of American jobs and hundreds of businesses as our domestic shrimping industry is forced to compete against unfair pricing.

“We cannot afford to keep giving away American jobs with unfair trade agreements.  Vietnam’s illegal dumping is strangling our shrimping industry and slowly destroying a way of life that has been part of Louisiana’s culture for generations.  Until Vietnam agrees to sell seafood to the United States at fair market value, I will continue to oppose normalizing trade relations with them.   We owe Louisiana’s shrimpers at least that much.”

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