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Exporters face trade barriers
Things are looking up this year for Viet Nam's exporters with the world economy showing signs of recovery. However, experts have warned about new challenges in the wake of increasing trade barriers, especially anti-dumping and anti-subsidy lawsuits initiated by importing countries to protect their own domestic production. The Vietnam News Agency talked with lawyer Tran Huu Huynh, Director of Viet Nam's Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Legal Department about the matter.
Last year saw a significant number of investigations into Vietnamese exports. What do you think about the risk of such lawsuits against the country's exports this year?
International experience shows when the world's economy is in a crisis, there will not be many lawsuits. However, when the economy starts to recover, foreign businesses will have the money to start legal proceedings.
We have so far warned that in the future when the world's economy shows more signs of recovery, there will be more lawsuits. It is an issue not only for Viet Nam's key exports but also for many other products.
Cases against Vietnamese exporters increased in the second half of last year and may rise even more. Apart from the cases of anti-dumping, there will be also anti-subsidy lawsuits.
Last year we faced seven lawsuits, some from markets where we thought we were safe. For example, the case of footwear exports to Brazil where our market share and export volume is very small.
What measures should businesses take to prevent and settle lawsuits?
I think this issue should be viewed from many angles.
Business associations should ensure their members are unanimous about the way they do business in foreign markets to avoid anti-dumping measures. Members should co-ordinate with each other to avoid extremely low prices that can be the basis for the importing countries to file lawsuits. Besides, the extremely low prices will not benefit workers or the economy as a whole.
The associations must also act and participate more actively in helping their members to avoid being sued. They must understand all the legal provisions of international trade litigation so that they can give suitable advice to their members.
As for the enterprises, they should understand that they are under great scrutiny from other countries so they must be careful not to violate any of the regulations.
What should the Government do to solve the problem?
The Government should try to keep subsidies to a minimum and make sure that they are in line with World Trade Organisation (WTO)'s rules.
It also needs to scrutinise existing subsidies to remove those not accepted by importing countries.
However, it also depends on each case. For cases, where importing countries apply protective trade measures that are not in line with WTO regulations, the Government should bring it to the WTO's attention. We have initiated a lawsuit against the US on applying anti-dumping taxes on Vietnamese shrimp that are not in line with WTO rules.
What kinds of protective trade measures will domestic exporters possibly have to face the most in the future?
I think that anti-dumping lawsuits will be the biggest issue. However, there will also be anti-subsidy cases. Last year, we faced an anti-subsidy suit for the first time (US anti-subsidy investigations against Viet Nam PE plastic bag).
Therefore, it is also possible that anti-subsidy cases against other Vietnamese products in other markets will increase in the future.
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