The US Department of Commerce has imposed a high tax rate of 456.23 percent on some kinds of steel imported from Vietnam using materials from South Korea and Taiwan.

This is the highest duty the US has ever imposed on Vietnam’s steel exports. Over many years, the steel industry has faced many trade remedy lawsuits.

According to Pham Pho, a respected metallurgy expert, the US wants to impose sanctions on China’s steel. The country makes half of the total steel output of the world, and its output is even higher than the output of the US, EU and Japan in total.

China, which is witnessing an oversupply, has tried every possible way to boost exports and appropriate the world market. This raises a big concern to the US.

Therefore, the US has imposed anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on Chinese-made steel products, while China has tried to avoid the imposition.

The US believes that Chinese manufacturers bring steel to Vietnam, and label the products as Vietnamese for export.

Meanwhile, the US, reasoning that Vietnam’s products use Chinese materials, has imposed high taxes on imports from Vietnam.

Some Vietnamese enterprises have been discovered colluding with Chinese manufacturers to commit origin fraud. 500,000 tons of aluminum sourced from China were imported to Vung Tau City before being shipped to the US in 2017.

Under CPTPP, Vietnam will not be able to enjoy preferential tariffs if it uses materials not made in the 11 CPTPP-member countries.

Vietnamese steel manufacturers rely heavily on materials from China.

Pho said that documents are needed to prove the Vietnamese origin of the exports to the US and the use of materials from countries that don’t bear US anti-dumping duties.

“Doing business honestly, providing products with transparent origin to all partners and satisfying the requirements of import countries are the principles that Vietnamese enterprises have to follow in the market economy,” he commented.

To Duy Phuong from the Hanoi Association of Foundry and Metallurgy also said Vietnamese enterprises nust prove their exports to the US are made in Vietnam.

According to the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA), as of May 31, Vietnam had imported over 8 million tons of steel products with total import turnover of $4.8 billion.

Also in the first five months of the year, Vietnam exported 235,000 tons of steel of different kinds to the US, worth $185 million.

Mai Lan 

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