Notably, the whole of 2019 witnessed only 16 new trade defense cases, with the number of cases doubling to 32 cases in just the first nine months of this year. Most of the goods under investigation are items that have an export advantage such as metals, fibers, seafood, plywood, construction materials, chemicals, and others.
Facing this situation, the Ministry of Industry and Trade - the state management agency in the field of trade defense, has promoted the support of manufacturing and export industries to respond to trade defense measures in order to ensure legitimate rights and benefits in international trade, contributing to achieving the country’s export growth goals.
Specifically, the Ministry has focused on giving early warning and regularly providing and updating the list of items at risk of being investigated for trade defense measures and origin fraud.
When an investigation is initiated, the concerned Vietnamese agencies have actively provided up-to-date information to help enterprises grasp the developments of the case while actively providing guidance on legal issues, investigation procedures, and investigation regulations and practices of the petitioning country and solutions for Vietnamese businesses.
In addition, Vietnam’s authorised agencies continuously contact and exchange views with foreign management and investigation agencies to propose fair treatment to Vietnamese export enterprises.
Thanks to their efforts, support for domestic production and export industries assisting them in responding to foreign trade defense measures have seen positive results.
Accordingly, Vietnam has successfully appealed 65 out of 151 initiated cases, accounting for about 43% of the total. Many products such as seafood, steel, wood, and others are being subjected to trade defense measures but are still only subject to low tariffs, thus helping Vietnam maintain its export growth to major markets such as the US, the EU, and Canada.
Besides the efforts of Government, ministries, and sectors, the effective response to foreign trade defense measures also requires the proactive participation of the business community.
In order to reduce the negative impact of trade defense measures, manufacturing and exporting industries and Vietnamese enterprises are being advised to develop export strategies towards diversifying their markets while avoiding overheating their dependence on any one market and minimising competition based on price instead of quality.
Enterprises must consider trade defense a natural part of their production, sales and export strategies to proactively learn the basic knowledge and law on trade defence as well as preparing sufficient resources to cope with the risk of legal action.
In addition, businesses need to regularly monitor warning information about trade defense and always ensure strict compliance with regulations on certification of origin.
When there are trade defense cases being initiated, related businesses need to fully cooperate with the investigating agencies as well as closely coordinating with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to receive proper guidance and support.
