The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade has expressed its regret over the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)’s decision that continues to classify Vietnam as a non-market economy country.

The DOC has released such a decision although it has recorded many positive changes in the economy of the Southeast Asian country, the ministry said in an announcement on Friday after the DOC issued its “final decision in review of the non-market economy status of Vietnam” on the same day. 

In the decision, the DOC announced its “determination that Vietnam will continue to be classified as a non-market economy (NME) country for purposes of calculating U.S. antidumping duties on imports from Vietnam,” according to a press release on the website of the U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Vietnam.

Following the determination, the methodology used in calculating U.S. antidumping duties on imports from Vietnam remains the same, said the media release.

Given the decision, Vietnam, as an NME country, will see its exporters of goods to the American market continue to be treated differently in anti-dumping and countervailing investigations initiated by the U.S., the ministry stated.  

In addition, the actual production costs of Vietnamese enterprises will continue not to be recognized, but the ‘surrogate value’ of a third country will be used instead to calculate dumping or subsidy margins in such investigations.

If the DOC had examined the records and practices in Vietnam objectively and fairly, they would have been able to acknowledge the fact that Vietnam is already a market economy like the 72 other recognized market economies, including major economies such as the UK, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan, India, the Republic Korea, and New Zealand, it stated.

Over the past 20 years, Vietnam’s economy has experienced outstanding changes and development, with the country signing and successfully performing 17 free trade agreements with various countries in the world, including the European Union (EU), the UK and countries of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

According to the ministry, these positive changes have been clearly reflected in over 20,000 pages of information and documents delivered by the ministry to the DOC, proving Vietnam's strong progress in all the six criteria applied by the DOC for recognition of a market economy status for a country. 

According to the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930, these six criteria include the extent to which the currency of the foreign country is convertible into the currency of other countries; the extent to which wage rates in the foreign country are determined by free bargaining between labor and management; and the extent to which joint ventures or other investments by firms of other foreign countries are permitted in the foreign country.

The other three criteria comprise the extent of government ownership or control of the means of production; the extent of government control over the allocation of resources and over the price and output decisions of enterprises; and such other factors as the administering authority considers appropriate.

The ministry also pointed out that all the briefs provided by the ministry to the DOC also demonstrate Vietnam has implemented these six criteria at least equally to and generally better than many other countries that have been recognized as market economies.

In its announcement, the Vietnamese agency extended its thanks to 41 American organizations, business associations, trade associations and individuals for their strong advocates for recognizing Vietnam as a market economy country.

Among these supporters are the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AmCham Vietnam), the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), the Retail Industry Leaders Association and the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council (USABC).

The ministry said it will continue studying and analyzing the DOC’s assessments on the Vietnamese economy in order to supplement and complete its briefs and submit dossiers again to the DOC requesting another review to recognize Vietnam’s market economy status. 

Such recognition will further concretize the Vietnam-U.S. comprehensive strategic partnership, thereby expanding bilateral economic, trade and investment cooperation and bringing practical benefits to businesses and people of both countries.

The ministry will also continue to support and accompany Vietnamese exporters of goods to the U.S. in trade remedy investigations to ensure their highest possible benefits.

Last year, the U.S. was Vietnam's largest export market, with export earnings from this market amounting to US$97 billion, representing 27.3 percent of Vietnam's total export turnover.

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