WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Vietnam's ambassador to the United States called on Washington on Tuesday to slap Hanoi with a “non-market economy” designation, warning that maintaining resulting punitive tariffs on Vietnamese goods would be bad for the increasingly tight economy bilateral relations.
Last year, the U.S. Commerce Department said it was reviewing Vietnam's non-market economy status after Hanoi argued it should be removed from the list used in anti-dumping cases given economic reforms in recent years.
The “non-market economy” designation, which is also applied to China and Russia due, among other things, to the heavy state involvement in their economies, allows the United States to impose significantly higher anti-dumping duties on imports from certain countries by relying on the proxy -Support third country pricing.
Under US law, the review, which began on October 24, must be completed within 270 days, around mid-July.
“Of course we want Vietnam to be removed from the US list of non-market economy countries,” Ambassador Nguyen Quoc Dzung told the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, saying Vietnam no longer deserves a place in the status only applied to 12 countries in the world.
“Can you imagine that given what we have done, what we have tried, and given the relationship between our two countries, Vietnam is among the 12 countries… the worst countries in the world?”
“So it’s not acceptable,” Dzung said. “So I think if the DOC were to reject that, I think it would be very, very bad for the two countries.”
Last year, the US and Vietnam deepened their ties into a comprehensive strategic partnership during a visit by President Joe Biden to Hanoi. Last year, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also called on US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to put an end to the label.
Dzung said Vietnam is seeking more U.S. investment to strengthen its position in global high-tech supply chains and meet its carbon emissions commitments.
The story goes on
“We want cheaper and more open markets for both countries, goods and services,” he said, adding: “Of course fewer cases of investigation.”
Dzung said Hanoi hopes the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific economic framework will one day include the market access sought by Asian countries.
He also said Vietnam wanted more U.S. help dealing with unexploded ordnance, a legacy of the Vietnam War.
“What we have done is great, but we still need to do a lot more,” he said. “We need to go faster and we need more resources.”
Dzung was asked about the 2024 U.S. presidential election, in which former President Donald Trump, whose administration had threatened to impose tariffs on Vietnamese goods over currency manipulation allegations, is the Republican front-runner.
He said there was strong bipartisan support for the partnership. “The enthusiasm may vary from time to time in each country depending on the circumstances and developments of the time,” he said.
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Editing by Leslie Adler)
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