Chu Thang Trung, Deputy Director of the Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam, addresses the seminar in HCM City on August 19. (Photo: VNA) Trade between the two countries hasbeen growing continually, by an annual average of 11.5% during 2011 - 2021. Australiawas the 10th largest trading partner of Vietnam last year, whenbilateral trade turnover rose 49% year on year to 12.4 billion USD. It ranked 7th among the trading partners of Vietnam in the first seven months of 2022, saidNguyen Thi Phuong Nga, an official of the Asia - Africa Market Department atthe Ministry of Industry and Trade.
An advantage of Vietnamese exportersis that the two countries’ goods structures are complementary to each other,she noted, elaborating that Vietnam ships agricultural, fishery and wood products,machinery, transport vehicles, and steel to Australia which, in turn, exportstextile - garment and leather - footwear materials, coal, iron ore, dairyproducts, chemicals and chemical products to the Southeast Asian nation.
Besides, the two are alsopartners in three free trade agreements (FTAs), namely the ASEAN - Australia -New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA), the Comprehensive and ProgressiveAgreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the Regional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership (RCEP), Nga added.
Chu Thang Trung, DeputyDirector of the ministry’s Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam (TRAV), pointedout that aside from market opportunities, there remain challenges, including risksof trade remedy investigations. If trade remedies are imposed, businesses couldface higher export tariffs compared to the pre-FTA levels and lose part of or theentire market they export to.
The World Trade Organisation(WTO) and FTAs allow member states to use trade remedies when necessary, socountries tend to use this tool to protect domestic production and labourers inthe face of growing imports. Popular trade remedy instruments include anti-dumping,anti-subsidy, safeguard, and anti-circumvention duties, said Phung Gia Duc from TRAV.
Vietnamese exports had beensubject to 222 trade remedy investigations as of June 2022. Eighteen were conductedby Australia, and all of them anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probes, with61% against steel products and 16.7% against other metals. The number of suchcases is still on the rise.
Duc held that closecoordination among Government agencies, business associations, and enterprisesis necessary to secure good results for exporters in trade remedy cases.
He called for activecooperation from businesses during not only investigations but also annual andend-of-term reviews to ease or completely lift trade remedies.
At the seminar, experts alsorecommended firms take into account trade remedy risks when making production,business, and export strategies; promote their competitiveness by improving qualityinstead of reducing prices; and equip themselves with knowledge about traderemedy regulations to have appropriate response.
The most important thing ininternational trade is to strictly comply with rules of origin and notcircumvent trade remedies, or both enterprises and their entire sectors willsuffer from serious financial and reputation damage, they added./.
VNA
