The Ag Department could issue controversial new rules for catfish inspection as early as next month, according to the Unified Agenda released Friday. That could pose big problems for Vietnamese farmers and exporters of catfish-like pangasius, who would have to submit to rigorous examinations to prove their food safety protections are equivalent to those of the U.S. Vietnam sent more than 200 million pounds of pangasius to the U.S. in 2012, up from just 36 million pounds five years earlier, according to government data, so it's not a small issue for the country or for U.S. competitors.

Obama isn't the only administration official sounding upbeat on the TPP’s chances. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told the Nikkei Asian Review that he was "100 percent confident" it would pass. "Vilsack said that when the U.S. takes into account such benefits as having 18,000 tariffs reduced on its exports, and the importance of the agreement in creating a balance to Chinese influence in Asia, he was 'confident that we would get an adequate number of senators and representatives to vote for it,'" the Japanese news outlet reported.

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