Many export markets increase trade remedy investigations

According to the Trade Remedy Department - Ministry of Industry and Trade, by the end of September 2023, Vietnam's export goods will face 234 trade remedy cases sued by countries. In the first 9 months of 2023 alone, countries have initiated 7 trade remedy cases against Vietnam's exports.

Trade remedy investigations against Vietnam are mainly anti-dumping and anti-tax evasion, coming from markets that regularly investigate trade remedies such as the United States, India, Australia... The items under investigation are quite diverse, from exports with a turnover of several tens of millions to billions of dollars. In particular, steel, yarn... are items that are frequently investigated according to the general trend in the world.

The Trade Remedy Department said that Vietnam's exports facing more and more foreign trade remedy investigations are an inevitable consequence when exports grow rapidly and Vietnam participates more deeply in the global value chain in the context of the volatile world situation.

Accordingly, Vietnam's participation in many free trade agreements, tariff barriers have gradually been removed, our exports of many products are on the verge of strong growth. However, this also puts pressure on domestic enterprises in import markets, forcing their governments to use policy tools to protect the interests of domestic manufacturing, including trade remedies that are allowed by the World Trade Organization (WTO).

In addition, participation in regional supply chains makes Vietnam a country that is often sued together with a number of other countries such as China and India,... are countries with large export turnover, are regularly investigated for trade remedies or suspected of illegal transshipment in order to evade trade remedy taxes.

It is forecasted that the situation in the world and the region in the last months of 2023 will continue to be complicated, global economic growth from now to the end of the year will slow down significantly due to the prolonged and continuous effects of tightening monetary policy as well as limited credit conditions, causing the trend of protectionism in many economies and regions to increase.

In addition, the continued implementation of new-generation free trade agreements (FTAs) such as CPTPP, EVFTA, UKVFTA will help our export goods have important advantages in export markets, but will also increase competitive pressure in the domestic market, There are some acts of taking advantage of Vietnamese origin to benefit illegally.

Therefore, countries will tend to apply more and more trade remedy measures, and Vietnamese exports will also face more and more trade remedy investigations from abroad.

According to the Trade Remedy Agency, Vietnam's export sectors are at high risk of becoming the subject of investigation and application of trade remedy measures by a number of countries in the coming time, including metals and metal products (such as steel products, aluminum products, copper products), rubber and plastics industry, chemical industry, building materials industry, wood industry.

"These are industries that have had rapid growth in recent years and Vietnamese enterprises have competitive advantages in export markets, so it is easy to lead to trade remedy investigations," the Trade RemedyDepartment said.

For Vietnamese enterprises, being investigated by foreign countries and applying trade defense measures will have negative impacts. In particular, if enterprises' export goods are subject to high trade defense tariffs, it will reduce competitive advantages, leading to partial or complete loss of export markets.

Timely update early warning information

Facing the situation that the number of trade remedy cases, anti-tax evasion and trade remedy measures initiated by foreign countries is continuously increasing, in order to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of exporting enterprises, the Trade Remedy Administration recommends that enterprises and industry associations: Actively study legal provisions, trade remedy investigation practices, anti-evasion of exporting countries, especially for target markets.

At the same time, regularly update early warning information from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (Trade Remedy Agency) to take early, timely actions and appropriate export strategies, and establish information channels with partners, associations and industries to promptly update, handling arising lawsuits and situations; market diversification, product diversification, avoiding overheating export growth into one market, especially for markets that regularly use trade remedy tools or have investigated trade remedies for Vietnam's exports.

Along with that, it is focused on improving the value chain of products, while gradually shifting to competition by quality and limiting competition by price; adopt appropriate export volume and selling price control strategies to avoid being considered dumping or receiving subsidies; complete the corporate governance system, implement a clear and transparent raw material traceability and management system; apply the accounting system according to international standards, and keep sufficient invoices and documents to be able to prove no dumping, no subsidies, no evasion when being investigated.

In particular, the Trade Remedy Department noted that enterprises need to strictly comply with regulations on certificate of origin; not abetting acts of origin fraud, evading trade remedies; coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade in preventing acts of forgery, origin fraud and illegal transshipment.

"It is necessary to cooperate fully and comprehensively, provide information and documents at the request of foreign investigative agencies when they are the subject of investigation; coordinate closely with the Ministry of Industry and Trade (Trade Remedy Agency) in the process of responding to the incident for timely guidance and support" - the Trade Remedy Agency stated.