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Vietnam urges US to reduce trade barriers
Vietnam has called on the US to minimise its trade barriers and play a more active role in the multilateral trade system.
A Vietnamese representative made the request at a session held at the World Trade Organisations (WTO) headquarters in Geneva on Sept. 29 and Oct. 1 to review the US ’s trade policies.
Head of the Vietnamese Delegation to the UN, WTO and other international organisations in Geneva Ambassador Vu Dung and officials from the Ministries of Industry and Trade, and Foreign Affairs attended the event.
The representative voiced concerns over the US ’s trade barriers that resulted in anti-dumping duties against frozen shrimp, plastic bags and tra fish (Pangasius) imported from Vietnam .
Vietnam expected that the US would re-examine its investigations on the imposition of anti-subsidy and anti-dumping tariffs before making decision to avoid affecting other WTO members.
Two-way trade between Vietnam and the US has grown steadily, reaching its peak of 15 billion USD in 2009, 15 times higher than the figure in 2001 when the two nations had not signed the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) yet.
The US has become as Vietnam ’s biggest importer in recent years, importing 11.5 billion USD worth of goods in 2009, accounting for one-fifth of the Southeast Asian country’s total exports. In the first five months of 2010, bilateral trade hit 7.75 billion USD, including 6.09 billion USD from Vietnamese exports.
The country emerged as the biggest foreign investor in Vietnam last year, with a combined registered capital of 9.8 billion USD.
The US is also an important partner of Vietnam in the current negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement.
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