Speaking at the session, Pham Quang Huy described GTA as a valuable tool that enables policymakers to monitor trade and industrial policy developments of partner countries in a timely manner. He noted that in today’s rapidly changing global economic context, access to high-quality, reliable data and in-depth analysis is essential for Vietnam to strengthen early-warning capacity and proactively respond to trade risks, particularly in the area of trade defence.

Over recent years, Vietnam’s Permanent Mission in Geneva has closely collaborated with the St. Gallen Foundation on policy analysis capacity-building activities and expects the foundation to further coordinate with domestic agencies in using data, developing analytical capabilities, and supporting early-warning systems.

Subsequently, Andrey Eydlin provided an overview of the foundation and its initiatives, including GTA and other analytical data tools such as Trade Defence Monitor and Import Dynamics. GTA is an independent platform that aggregates trade policies of more than 60 countries covering goods, services, foreign direct investment (FDI), and labor based on official sources. It tracks over 60 types of policy instruments, such as tariffs, customs duties, bans, quotas, tariff-rate quotas, subsidies, public procurement, localization measures, and trade defence, and generates reports by policies, affected sectors and products, and impacted trading partners.

In the field of trade defence, Andrey Eydlin noted that GTA can provide real-time information on trade defence actions taken by G20 countries, issuing alerts to relevant agencies by investigating country, country of origin, targeted products, and affected companies-an extremely useful source for Vietnam to identify export risks at an early stage.

 GTA also supplies data to assess cases based on trade defense investigations in other markets involving the same company, reviews subsidy programs for analytical purposes, and monitors recent trade trends of products to evaluate potential damages.

Participating online, Chu Thang Trung, Deputy Director of the Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam, welcomed the useful information provided by the St. Gallen Foundation and noted that the department is already utilizing data from the GTA website.

He also raised questions and comments regarding GTA’s operation and the foundation’s support plans for relevant Vietnamese agencies. In response, representatives of the St. Gallen Foundation confirmed their readiness to provide access, conduct training, and guide the use of the tool to monitor measures affecting Vietnam’s exports; organize workshops on trade policy, industrial policy, and digital trade; and supply specialized analytical reports upon request, such as analyses of opportunities and challenges for Vietnam’s exports.

Founded in 2020, the St. Gallen Foundation is a non-profit organization aimed at promoting prosperity through trade. Its main initiatives include GTA; Digital Policy Alert, which tracks regulations and developments in digital policy related to artificial intelligence, data governance, competition, taxation, and content moderation; the C4TP program, funded by the Swiss government to build trade policy capacity in developing countries, with Vietnam as a priority partner; and the New Industrial Policy Observatory (NIPO), a database on industrial policies.

Vietnam to host trade defence forum to strengthen private sector resilience

The Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam (TRAV) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade will convene the second annual Trade Defence Forum in Ho Chi Minh City on September 25, following a successful inaugural event last year.

Vietnam attends WTO meetings on trade defence

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) committees on trade defence held a series of meetings from April 28 to May 1, the Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the United Nations, the WTO, and other international organisations in Geneva, Switzerland, announced on May 6.