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US trade barriers require scrutiny
Viet Nam should keep monitoring the countervailing duties imposed by the US, as the country would place more pressure on imports from China and perhaps other non-market economies as well, said an expert from South Korea.
"It is important to keep monitoring the US countervailing duty actions against China in order to understand what kind of subsidy programmes are being targeted and prepare for them," Dukgeun Ahn from Seoul National University said at a workshop held by the Viet Nam Competition Authority on Monday.
He pointed out that preferential land use fees, corporate income tax exemptions and reductions and import duty exemptions for raw materials could be considered countervailable subsidies.
The US Department of Commerce's countervailing duty actions against Viet Nam have involved three products to date: polyethylene retail carrier bags, circular welded carbon quality steel pipe and steel wire garment hangers.
According to the competition authority's statistics, there were 62 investigations of trade defence cases during the period of 1995-2012, 40 of which were related to dumping. Also, two-thirds of the investigations targeted Viet Nam's key export goods such as footwear and seafood.
The department has developed an early warning system to help businesses predict when anti-dumping cases against Vietnamese export products may occur and actively respond, thus minimising potential damages.
According to Ahn, it would also be useful to establish a legal team or department in a ministry that can oversee all countervailing duty cases.
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