US top antagonist for Vietnamese exporters in terms of trade remedies

As of October there were 224 trade remedies against Vietnam, with the latest in place to protect domestic industries from imports amid the global economic slowdown partly caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Chu Thang Trung, deputy head of the Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam, told reporters Friday.

Trade remedies are actions taken in response to subsidies (countervailing duties), sales at less than fair value (antidumping) and import surges (safeguards).

Among Vietnamese commodities, pangasius fish, shrimp and honey have faced the most anti-dumping cases.

The U.S. once imposed preliminary anti-dumping duties of up to 400% on honey, but the Vietnamese side effectively handled the issue and caused the duties to be decreased to 58-62%.

Some of Vietnam’s growing exports in recent months could face trade remedies investigations, Trung said, pointing out that exports to the U.S. had soared by 17.7% in the first 11 months of this year to US$101 billion.

As for pangasius fish and shrimp, many Vietnamese exporters are no longer subject to anti-dumping duties.

But the U.S. Department of Commerce still reviews them annually, and the U.S. government is likely to take a number of measures to combat inflation and protect domestic production through trade remedies, Trung warned.

Vietnam too has resorted to trade remedies in 22 cases.

A few months ago it levied countervailing and anti-dumping duties on Thai cane sugar and temporary anti-dumping duties on some furniture products from China.