The Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas) will have five minutes to express its viewpoint before the US Department of Commerce (DOC), at the first hearing on the Vietnam-made textile and apparel imports monitoring scheme slated for April 22 by the US side.
At the hearing, the US DOC will hear involved parties’ viewpoints about the possible imposition of the apparel imports monitoring scheme, which has been designed to be conducted every six months. Vitas’ representative will have five minutes to express its viewpoint.
Representatives from the Vietnamese Ministry of Trade, Vitas, Ho Chi Minh City Knitting, Embroidery, Textile and Garment Association will attend the hearing. On the US side, there will be representatives of textile and apparel associations, importers and involved businesses.
DOC has finished two rounds of collecting opinions from involved parties through mail and fax messages, which will serve the public hearing.
Deputy Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Knitting, Embroidery, Textile and Garment Association Diep Thanh Kiet said Vitas would have a meeting next week to discuss the issues needed to be presented within the five minutes. The representative would only present main points briefly and succinctly, reserving time for questions.
In fact, Vietnamese businesses attended hearings as defendants in the anti-dumping lawsuits raised by the EU against Vietnam-sourced leather capped shoes last year. However, they will have less time at the hearing before DOC, which is just one-quarter of the time allowed by the EU.
Kiet said Vitas has not had a plan to lobby the US side to not impose the apparel imports monitoring scheme on Vietnam-sourced apparel products.
In 2006, Vietnam became the 150th member of the WTO, requiring the US to remove the quota scheme imposed on apparel imports from Vietnam. Many American congressmen protested against granting permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to Vietnam for fear that Vietnam’s garment industry would threaten the operation of the industry in the US.
In order to remove barriers installed by US congressmen, the US DOC suggested implementing the apparel import monitoring scheme in return for granting PNTR to Vietnam. What worries Vietnamese businesses is that the suggested monitoring scheme would automatically kick-start anti-dumping lawsuits against products sourced from Vietnam, if the US side discovered Vietnamese garment companies were receiving subsidies from the Government or dumping their products in the US.
Vietnam now ranks sixth among apparel exporters to the US market, which currently accounts for more than half of Vietnam’s garment and textile exports.
In the first three months this year, the country shipped abroad US$1.65 billion worth of textiles and garments, a rise of 30.1 per cent. It expects growth of 25 per cent, reaching US$7.5 billion for the whole year. (Vnexpress, VietNamNet)
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