Vietnam establishes healthy competitive environment

Statistics from the Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam (TRAV) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) show that in the first six months of this year, the authority continued to carry out tasks related to the investigation and review of seven trade defence cases that the MoIT decided to initiate last year and appraise and report to the minister to decide to initiate an anti-dumping investigation on one new case.

Along with that, the TRAV has also received and processed seven dossiers requesting investigation and review from domestic manufacturing industries.

Up to now, the MoIT has initiated investigations into nearly 30 trade remedies cases and applied 22 measures to imported goods.

Goods subject to investigation and application of measures belong to the groups of iron and steel, fertilisers, plastics, textiles and food. These are mostly important items considered the backbone of each country's economy.

In addition, the investigations are carried out objectively, transparently, in compliance with legal regulations and in accordance with international commitments.

Talking about the great effects of trade remedies, TRAV’s head of the anti-dumping and subsidy investigation department To Thai Ninh said that trade remedies helped re-establish a healthy and fair competitive environment; prevent dumping and sales of subsidised goods into Vietnam by exporting countries.

With the increase in import tax, the applied trade remedies had also contributed to improving revenue for the state budget with the tax collection estimated at thousands of billions of VND; at the same time, the massive import growth of products initiated for investigation also decreased significantly, said Ninh.

Notably, the applied trade remedies contributed to protect jobs of about 120,000 workers in various fields, encouraging domestic production to develop and supporting the balance of international payments.

According to calculations, the manufacturing industries being protected by trade remedies are estimated to contribute about 6.3% of the country's GDP.

The Kinh Te Do Thi (Economic and Urban Affairs) newspaper quoted Ambassador Mai Phan Dung, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations (UN), World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other international organisations in Geneva, as saying that Vietnam's domestic manufacturing industries had effectively used this legally permitted tool to protect their legitimate rights and interests against unfair competition from imported goods.

Through the data obtained by the delegation through co-ordination with the TRAV, Vietnam has investigated nearly 30 trade remedy cases, many of which are related to steel products.

Emphasising the positive results from the increasing use of trade remedy tools to protect domestic manufacturing industries, Dr Nguyen Minh Phong commented that the timely trade remedy measures applied by the MoIT had contributed to preventing the negative impacts of massive imports, unfair competition with domestic goods and ensuring the maintenance of domestic production as well as competitiveness.

In the future, Vietnam needs to pay more attention to proactively and harmoniously dealing with international trade remedies, with the reasonable and effective use of legal trade remedies tools within the framework of the WTO and free trade agreements (FTAs) that Vietnam is and will be a member of, to both increase exports, protect domestic production and employment, and reduce dependence on imported goods. according to Phong.

In addition, the use of trade remedies must meet a number of conditions stipulated in relevant agreements.

The TRAV will complete the investigation of two anti-dumping cases and four review cases by the end of this year, continue to investigate two anti-dumping cases and three final review cases, appraise and report to the leaders of the MoIT the results of the appraisal of the investigation and review requests of the domestic manufacturing industry.