During an interview, Trinh Anh Tuan, the Director General of the Administration of Trade Remedies of Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade, shared some statistics on Vietnam's trade remedy situation in the first half of 2023 and issued warnings to industry sectors at risk of trade remedy investigations by the end of 2023.
By the end of June 2023, Vietnam's exports to international markets had faced 231 trade remedy cases. Among them, the highest number of cases were anti-dumping investigations (128 cases), followed by safeguard cases (47 cases), anti-circumvention investigations (33 cases), and anti-subsidy cases (23 cases).
These numbers represent the total number of investigations since Vietnam officially joined the international market. In the first six months of 2023 alone, countries initiated four new trade remedy cases against Vietnam's exports, including three anti-dumping cases by the United States involving high-pressure gas-powered sprayers, steel clothes hangers, paper shopping bags, and one safeguard case by the Philippines concerning steel gas cylinders.
Conversely, Vietnam has actively utilized trade remedy measures to protect the interests of its domestic manufacturing enterprises. From the beginning until the end of June 2023, Vietnam initiated a total of 25 trade remedy cases, including 16 anti-dumping cases, 1 anti-subsidy case, 6 safeguard cases, and 2 anti-circumvention cases.
Regarding investigations that have issued final conclusions and resulted in the imposition of trade remedy measures, Vietnam is currently conducting reviews on three cases. These include a review of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures on sugarcane products from Thailand, a review of anti-dumping measures on fiber products from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and China, and a review of anti-dumping measures on sweetener products from Indonesia and China.
In terms of industries subject to investigations, Vietnamese enterprises are primarily targeted by countries with close trade cooperation such as the United States, India, and Australia in sectors like steel, fiber, wooden furniture, energy batteries, etc.
Industry sectors at risk of trade remedy investigations and duty impositions until the end of 2023
As Vietnam continues to deeply integrate into the international market through new-generation FTAs such as CPTPP, EVFTA, and UKVFTA, the increasing trend of Vietnam being subjected to trade remedy investigations is inevitable. This is because enterprises are now capable of exporting large volumes of goods to international markets as tariff advantages become more feasible.
According to the Director General of Vietnam's Administration of Trade Remedies, the high-risk export sectors of Vietnam that are likely to be investigated and subjected to trade remedy measures in 2023 and beyond mainly revolve around metal and metal products, including steel, aluminum, copper products, as well as the rubber and plastics industry, chemical industry, construction materials industry, and wood industry.
This is due to Vietnam's strong growth in production and export of these goods to the international market. The significant increase in export volume will eventually lead to a situation of dumping due to oversupply, which can adversely affect the interests of the domestic manufacturing industry of the partner country.
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