Vietnam disappointed at US decision on non-market economy status: Party official

Vietnam is disappointed at the U.S. Department of Commerce's (DOC) decision not to graduate Vietnam to a market economy yet, said a senior Party official.

The country has met all the six criteria set by the DOC when reviewing the graduation to a market economy, said Nguyen Xuan Thang, a Politburo member and director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, during his working visit to the U.S. on July 31-August 4.

Vietnam-U.S. trade and investment ties have enjoyed unprecedented strong developments recently and the two nations made great efforts to upgrade their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership last September, Thang added.

Thang, also chairman of the Central Theory Council, urged the U.S. side to make objective evaluations and soon recognize Vietnam as a market economy.

The Party official also called on U.S. companies to ramp up investments in Vietnam and exports to the Southeast Asian country, helping reduce the U.S. trade deficit with Vietnam.

Representatives of the U.S. Department of State shared Vietnam’s concern over the DOC’s decision and affirmed that this setback will not affect the sound bilateral economic ties.

Thang’s comment came after the DOC announced on Friday its decision to keep Vietnam as a non-market economy country for purposes of calculating U.S. antidumping duties on imports from Vietnam.

The decision means that exporters of Vietnamese goods to the U.S. market will continue to be treated differently in antidumping and countervailing investigations. The actual production costs of Vietnamese firms will continue not to be recognized; instead, the "surrogate value" of a third country will be used to calculate dumping/subsidy margins in such cases.

Shortly after the announcement, Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade expressed its regret, noting that if the DOC had examined the records and practices in Vietnam objectively and fairly, they would have acknowledged the fact that Vietnam is already a market economy.

Looking ahead, the ministry will continue to study and analyze the arguments in the DOC’s report assessing the Vietnamese economy in order to continue the supplementation and completion of the briefs and relevant dossiers for submission to the DOC to request another review to recognize the market economy status of Vietnam

Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang last Saturday said Vietnam was “disappointed” at the DOC’s decision.

“Despite recognizing many positive changes in the Vietnamese economy in recent times, this decision does not fully reflect Vietnam's great efforts and achievements in building and developing a market economy, which have been recognized by the international community," she stressed.

“In the spirit of the comprehensive strategic partnership, Vietnam requests the U.S. to continue implementing its commitment to broad, strong and constructive coordination and to soon recognize Vietnam’s market economy status.

“Relevant Vietnamese agencies will continue to coordinate closely with U.S. partners to ensure that bilateral economic and trade relations will continue to develop stably and harmoniously, bringing practical benefits to businesses and people of the two countries," the spokesperson stated.