In case you didn’t know anti-competition lobbyists representing American catfish farmers are working hard to have a Vietnamese fish called pangasius banned from this country and that spells trouble for Montana cattlemen. Despite the fact that pangasius has been safely imported for years and has caused a grand total of zero illnesses, the bottom-feeding special interest lobby has cooked up a food safety scare story and is shopping it to USDA and anyone in Washington who will listen.

The Billings Gazette described the situation as “an international fight over catfish [which] could undo U.S. relations with the third-largest foreign buyer of American beef.” It’s pretty simple actually– American catfish producers who don’t want to compete with pangasius work to get that fish regulated out of the U.S. market and they win-case closed. But who loses?

Beef, that’s who.

The Wall Street Journal explained Senator Max Baucus’ interest in the tale this way, “[Sen. Baucus] fears a U.S. ban on Vietnamese pangasius would spur Hanoi into a retaliatory ban on U.S. beef. The stakes (no pun intended) are high on both sides. The pangasius industry is critical to the economy of the Mekong River region and employs thousands directly and indirectly. Meanwhile, Vietnam is the fifth-largest market for U.S. beef exports; American ranchers sold $131 million in beef there last year.”

Cattlemen know the pain faux food safety arguments can cause when it comes to international trade and don’t deserve to be collateral damage in a trade war they did not have anything to do with starting.

The Journal concluded, “Mr. Baucus has hit on a basic trade truth here. Interfering with the free trade in one good can have unintended consequences that can hurt the protectionist as much as the exporter.

President Obama’s Agriculture Department is currently reviewing whether Vietnamese pangasius fish should be subject to a ban. The Administration would be wise to heed the cattleman’s counsel.”