Businesses must compete on quality instead of price.

To avoid being investigated for trade defense, according to lawyers, Vietnamese businesses should increase competition through quality instead of price.

Along with the growth of export turnover in recent times, Vietnam's export goods continue to face many foreign trade defense investigations, especially investigations against evasion of trade defense measures. Lawyer Nguyen Thanh Ha - Chairman of SB LAW shared about this issue with Cong Thuong Newspaper.

The number of trade defense investigations into Vietnamese export goods is increasing. Photo: VNA

Up to now, trade defense investigations against Vietnamese export goods are increasing rapidly. From a legal perspective, what do you think about this reality?

According to information from the Department of Trade Remedies, Ministry of Industry and Trade, by the end of September 2024, there were 263 trade defense investigations related to Vietnam's export goods; the number of cases covered many export products.

In fact, participating deeply in the international economic playground and signing free trade agreements opens up opportunities for exported goods. However, when the trend of tariff barriers decreases, many countries increase the use of non-tariff barriers as trade defense measures against countries with high export turnover, in order to protect domestic production. Therefore, the rapid increase in the number of trade defense investigations against Vietnamese export goods in recent times is also inevitable.

On the other hand, the increasing application of trade defense measures by countries, especially the prevention of trade defense evasion, is also due to the shift of production from other countries to Vietnam. From this reality, businesses and industries need to always be proactive in their production, business and export strategies to respond to the trend of trade defense investigations in the international market.

In the context of countries around the world increasing the use of trade defense measures, but the response capacity of enterprises is still limited. What challenges does this pose to protect the interests of enterprises as well as ensure stability for goods export activities, sir?

Currently, the trade defense laws in each country are different, with detailed and specific regulations for each stage of the case. And the ultimate goal of the country that initiates the lawsuit is to protect domestic production and businesses. Therefore, this will be disadvantageous for the country that is subject to trade defense measures.

Lawyer Nguyen Thanh Ha – Chairman of SB LAW Firm. Photo: Quoc Chuyen

For Vietnamese enterprises, when export goods are initiated by the market for investigation, they have to mobilize human resources and finance to pursue the case; on the other hand, each case has a certain investigation time, while enterprises have to collect information and evidence to provide to the investigator... If trade defense measures are applied, export goods will lose competitiveness, even lose the market if high taxes are imposed.

Thus, the pressure on businesses and industries is enormous in the face of the current trend of trade defense investigations in many countries. However, it is worrying that most businesses are currently facing difficulties in responding to trade defense measures. This includes the modest level of understanding of trade defense regulations and laws of import markets by businesses; industry associations also play an important role in the investigation process, but the associations also face difficulties in using the available tools.

From the challenges, in your opinion, how should Vietnam strengthen and improve its policies and laws on trade defense? At the same time, what specific solutions should state management agencies have to support businesses in responding effectively?

Through the number of investigations and application of trade defense measures initiated by foreign markets against Vietnam's export goods, the authorities need to specifically count the cases that have been successfully defended, as well as the success rate, thereby supporting businesses to best respond to market accusations.

In addition, when the process of international economic integration is being strongly promoted, the solution to effectively respond to foreign trade defense measures is to have coordination from ministries and branches. In particular, the Government needs to promote countries, especially the United States, to soon recognize Vietnam as a market economy. This will reduce the risk of being initiated an investigation into goods exported to this potential export market.

Along with that, in addition to promoting early warnings about trade defense investigations from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, it is recommended to publish a white paper on trade defense, so that businesses can have a more comprehensive and general view of this field, thereby having appropriate response measures for each market.

As for businesses, I think it is necessary to have a firm grasp of international trade defense regulations to avoid being passive when investigations are initiated. In the process of participating in providing case information, it is necessary to hire a consulting and support company, but it is not advisable to hire multiple law firms, so that information can be shared in case of investigation by multiple markets. On the other hand, it is necessary to coordinate closely with the authorities, especially the Vietnamese trade representative in the import market, to grasp investigation information early and remotely.

In particular, do not assist in the evasion of trade defense measures, because this can easily lead to the initiation of investigations and the imposition of high taxes, thereby causing damage not only to the business but also to many businesses and the entire manufacturing industry.

At the same time, businesses must always be aware that when entering the international economic "playground", they must compete on quality, not just on price. This is the most important factor to not only avoid the risk of being included in the trade defense investigation list, but also contribute to maintaining stability and improving the competitiveness of Vietnamese export goods in the international market.

Thank you!

Source: https://congthuong.vn/tranh-bi-dieu-tra-phong-ve-thuong-mai-doanh-nghiep-phai-canh-tranh-bang-chat-luong-thay-vi-gia-356392.html