The Trade Remedies Authority of Viet Nam has announced the list of 12 products which are at risk of being investigated for trade defence measures or origin fraud and illegal conveyance.

The list included hardwood plywood, mattresses, wooden cabinets and vanities, quartz surface products, seamless refined copper pipes and tubes, forged steel fittings, steel wheels, fabricated structural steel, steel propane cylinders and carton-closing staples exported to the US, tyres for buses and lorries to the EU and electric bicycles to both the US and EU.

For hardwood plywood and mattresses originating from Viet Nam, the US Department of Commerce is considering initiation of trade defence investigation

Statistics shows that China’s exports of hardwood plywood, which are now subject to anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties by the US, fell from US$1.1 billion in 2016 to $215.6 million in 2019. In the same period, Viet Nam’s exports to the US rose from $33.4 million to $322.2 million.

China’s mattress exports to the US dropped from $436 million in 2017 to $167 million in 2019 while Viet Nam’s increased from $64,000 to $166 million.

Viet Nam’s exports of the remaining products to the US and the EU also saw significant increases while China’s saw declines due to the US and the EU’s impositions of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties, creating the risk that those products originating from Viet Nam might face investigations.

The list was announced based on the tracing of exports of products which were subject to trade defence measures by the importing countries but the tariff imposition had not been on products originating from Viet Nam. — VNS