Leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Trade speak at the conference on deploying tasks for the last six months of the year, held on July 14. (Photo: Duc Duy/Vietnam+) According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, it will apply remedies or fixes on trade disputes that involve a wide scope of items for export. These “fixes” will include not only items with large turnover but also items with small export turnover that are a large part of people’s lives.
A conference on the topic was held to review the work of the first six months, and implementing tasks for the last six months of 2022 on July 14, in Hanoi. Le Trieu Dung, General Director of the Trade Authority of Vietnam said that up to now, there have been 214 trade cases where trade disputes were initiated by foreign countries and territories against Vietnamese exported goods.
In the first half of the year, there were 12 new trade investigations involving iron and steel products, wooden wardrobes and solar batteries.
According to the Trade Remedies Department, in these cases, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has actively coordinated with ministries, associations, and enterprises using a system of early warnings so that businesses can proactively develop a plan to handle the cases.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade also actively provides legal advice, investigative procedures and regulations, and gives specific recommendations for enterprises.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has also been considering suing to counter the trade disputes involving foreign investigation agencies if they violate World Trade Organisation (WTO) regulations.
As a result, so far, Vietnam has achieved positive results in many cases, helping many enterprises and export products avoid trade remedy tax rates. This support is contributing to maintain export growth, especially to major markets such as the United States, the European Union (EU) and Canada.
Currently, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has been monitoring export fluctuations of 36 commodity groups and periodically issues a warning list to provide to associations and businesses.
On the basis of the warning list provided by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, relevant units have coordinated and strengthened the inspection, supervision and verification of the issuance of certificates of origin and declaration of origin upon customs clearance, and foreign investment registration.
Up to now, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has initiated an investigation to apply a total of 25 trade remedy cases. In particular, the application of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures to cane sugar imported from Thailand by the Ministry of Industry and Trade has had a positive impact on the sugar industry. It helped prevent dumping into the local sugar market and to source sugar cane locally to increase farmers' incomes.
Mr. Le Trieu Dung, General Director of Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam. (Photo: Duc Duy/Vietnam+) According to statistics, trade remedies against imports are currently protecting domestic industries that account for 10.27% of Vietnam's GDP and jobs for hundreds of thousands of workers.
Thanks to the application of reasonable trade remedies in accordance with international commitments, domestic manufacturing industries are protected against unfair competition practices. Further, it helps to create favorable conditions for manufacturing industries, creating more jobs and adding value to the economy.
Along with appeals and lawsuits, activities of providing information and improving trade defense capacity for industry associations, businesses and localities have also been undertaken.
However, the reality reveals that there is still limited awareness of trade remedies in some communities and industries. Moreover, the coordination mechanism between ministries and localities should be strengthened to ensure effectiveness in responding to foreign trade remedy cases.
Dung emphasised that the Ministry of Industry and Trade will continue to perfect the system of legal documents on trade remedies, effectively implementing major projects on trade remedies./.
