Vietnam has 2,000 garment and textile businesses, including 1,000 businesses facing anti-dumping lawsuits while exporting products to the US. Many enterprises lost their orders, while export turnover decreased, thus reducing income of businesses and workers. In the second quarter of this year, a number of US exporters canceled their previous orders.

Hoang Minh Khang, executive director of the garment and textile joint stock company No.10, said that about 45 percent of his company’s orders are to export products to the US market. “Big customers of our company have decided not to sign contracts to export to the US as they are afraid of dumping tariffs which will be imposed. We cannot persuade them to keep exporting products to the US,” Mr Khang said.

Le Quoc An, Chairman of the Vietnam Garments and Textiles Association and President of the Vietnam Garment and Textiles Group’s administration board, expressed his concerns while citing the unforgettable experience in Taiwan’s exports of woolens to US market in 1989. One year after the US Department of Commerce started their investigation Taiwanese exporters lost 50 percent of their orders, and had lost an additional 10 percent by the next year. It took five years for the investigation to conclude and prove that Taiwan did not dump their woolen products, and at that time the Taiwanese woolen sector received no orders. In Vietnam, the situation has not yet reached such a critical level.

According to experts, once a dumping lawsuit is lodged, its impacts are made on the economy, especially on sectors producing anti-dumping goods although there is no official conclusion on tax imposition. Moreover, businesses cannot wait until the final judgments are released as they cannot afford expenditures to follow the lawsuit. They also have to face decreases in their export turnover and income. Furthermore, the lawsuit may have negative impacts on the whole economy because it affects other industries, particularly those producing similar products.

Mr An said the US Department of Commerce (DOC)’s monitoring mechanism against garment imports from Vietnam goes against the WTO principle of non-discrimination. Furthermore, earlier, the US Congress approved Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status to Vietnam (non-discrimination against Vietnamese products imported to the US), but, few days later, the US DOC applied a monitoring mechanism against garment imports from Vietnam.

Le Quoc An emphasized that the US DOC’s monitoring mechanism against garment imports from Vietnam is illegal and contrary to regulations.

Learning experiences from seafood and footwear anti-dumping lawsuits, the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association proposed businesses implement the three following measures:

First, check accounts to ensure transparent and clear documents.

Second, do not violate international regulations, especially illegal transport.

Third, limit exporting batches of goods at low prices to the US.

Mr An said that exporting goods at low prices does not mean dumping prices or low quality goods. Some businesses produce goods for US$7-8 per unit but others make similar products at a much lower cost of US$1 product per unit. Therefore, Vietnamese businesses should export products of at least US$3 to the US and limit the export of US$1 products, in order to avoid misunderstandings.