On 13 May, 2020, the Ministry of Trade and Industry receives information about the Department of Commerce (DOC)’s receipt of dossiers of the investigation request of anti-dumping, countervailing measures on passenger vehicle and light truck tires (PVLT tires) originating from South Korea, Taiwan-China, Thailand and Vietnam.

In this case, the Applicants, including the United Steel, Paper, Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, AFL-CIO, CLC (“USW”), alleges that tire products under investigation of imports are dumped and subsidized into the US market, which causes significant damages to Domestic Industry. Regarding the statistics of United States International Trade Commission (USITC), exporting amount of the investigated products of Vietnam into the USA reaches 12,1 million products in 2019, accounting for 6,7% of total import turnover of the USA. Besides, The petitions also detail numerous government subsidies benefitting Vietnamese tire producers, including loans, tax breaks, and grants.

The investigated product is the product that was warned by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of risks of foreign investigation by applying trade remedies measures from July 2019 with the warning of high-level risks. Hence, during the past, The Ministry of Industry and Trade has actively coordinated and worked with Associations and exporters to the United States to proactively capture information and respond in case of initiating an investigation.

According to regulations of the USA, DOC shall consider initiating the investigation of the case or not within 20 days as from the date of application receipt. In this time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade shall have the form of discussing and consulting with DOC to clarify the content of charges in the petitions as well as provide information so that DOC can exactly evaluate  before the deciding whether to initiate an investigation  or not.

In case of that DOC decides to initiate the investigation, Department of Trade remedies shall coordinate with exporting businesses in the process of case investigation and has plans to support and handle timely to protect rights and interests of Vietnamese businesses.