Minister hails overseas trade offices
(VEN) - Overseas Vietnamese trade offices have taken the initiative in coordinating with relevant units of
The fact that the U.S. has yet to recognize Vietnam's market economy and, at the same time, has continuously increased trade defense measures in general and on Vietnamese goods in particular, making importing goods into the U.S. market increasingly difficult.
According to Mr. Do Ngoc Hung, Commercial Counselor and head of the Vietnam Trade Office in the United States, the U.S. tends to apply more and more measures to prevent imports and protect domestic production.
Vietnamese goods are being sued more and more.
According to the Trade Defense Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade, countries will tend to apply more and more trade defense measures, and Vietnamese exports will also face more and more trade defense investigations from abroad.
By the end of September 2023, Vietnam's exported goods faced 234 trade defense cases initiated by countries. This agency also said that in the first 9 months of 2023 alone, countries had initiated 7 trade defense cases against Vietnamese export goods.
Trade defense investigation cases against Vietnam are mainly anti-dumping and tax evasion, coming from markets that regularly conduct trade defense investigations, such as the United States, Australia, India...
The items under investigation are quite diverse, from exports with a turnover of several tens of millions to billions of dollars. Among them, steel and fiber... are items frequently investigated according to general trends worldwide.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade assesses that the fact that Vietnam's exports are facing more and more foreign trade defense investigations is an inevitable consequence when exports grow rapidly, and Vietnam participates more deeply in the global value chain in a volatile world situation.
Vietnam participates in many free trade agreements, tariff barriers are gradually removed, and exports of many products are on the rise. However, this also puts pressure on domestic businesses in the import market, forcing the host country's government to use policy tools to protect the interests of the domestic manufacturing industry, including Trade defense measures, tools allowed by the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Exporting to the U.S. is increasingly difficult.
Regarding the U.S. market, Counselor Do Ngoc Hung said that the U.S. is the largest import market in the world, with recent import value reaching over 3,000 billion USD per year.
Statistics from the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) show that the U.S. trade deficit was about 500 billion USD in the first half of this year.
Counsellor Do Ngoc Hung noted that the U.S. is tending to apply more and more measures to prevent imports from protecting domestic production.
In particular, the Washington government imposes strict technical barriers, regularly adds new regulations, sharply increases investigations and then imposes anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and anti-evasion taxes. This makes importing goods into this market increasingly difficult.
Statistics prove that by the end of May 2023, the U.S. will be the country that initiated the most trade defense investigations with Vietnam.
The U.S. side has initiated 55 cases, accounting for nearly 25% of the total trade remedy investigation cases with Vietnamese exports.
The items under investigation are relatively diverse, from Vietnam's main export industries, such as steel, wood, seafood, textiles, tires, and high-pressure washers, to products with export turnover. as small as honey, lawn mowers, foam mattresses, woven bags...
Notably, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has recently proposed amending and supplementing many regulations in anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations, with policies aimed at workers and enhancing competition with unfair competition practices from imported goods.
America needs to be fair with Vietnam.
According to Mr. Do Ngoc Hung, the Vietnamese side has also taken measures to protect the main interests of businesses and maintain a harmonious and sustainable trade balance between Vietnam and the U.S.
Accordingly, in many bilateral meeting frameworks between leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and U.S. partners such as the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), DOC, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has requested DOC to conduct investigations with Vietnam, based on objectivity and fairness, creates conditions for Vietnamese export enterprises to have enough time to explain and provide information to the investigation agency for proof.
Suppose the DOC decides to apply anti-circumvention measures. In that case, Vietnamese authorities also request the U.S. to have a simple and convenient mechanism for Vietnamese manufacturing and exporting enterprises to confirm that they do not violate the trade defense measures and not to create additional burdens on Vietnamese export enterprises.
What solution?
Counsellor Do Ngoc Hung gave some recommendations for Vietnamese businesses exporting products to the U.S. market.
According to Counselor Do Ngoc Hung, in the current context, Vietnam needs to mobilize maximum resources from the State and businesses, closely monitor situation developments, and approach and handle issues flexibly, flexibly but firmly determined to protect interests in the world's largest market.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade is the focal point for trade defense cases. However, in lawsuits, Mr. Hung reiterated that the role of businesses is very important and decisive in the case outcome.
The Vietnam Trade Office in the U.S. also made some recommendations for Vietnamese businesses to remember when exporting to the world's largest market.
First, according to Mr. Hung, Vietnamese businesses need to equip and update their knowledge about legal regulations on trade remedies of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in general and the U.S. in particular.
Next, it is necessary to build relationships, participate, and cooperate with relevant associations in the U.S., such as the Import-Export Association, to obtain more information, increase exchange, and avoid lawsuits by U.S. businesses.
At the same time, we must regularly discuss with domestic agencies and representative agencies the situation, developments in exports, and the risk of trade defense lawsuits when developing production and export plans, especially when an incident occurs, so that a timely treatment plan can be developed.
