The steel and aluminum imports from Vietnam only serve the purpose of civil construction, not being used for infrastructure construction or security-defence industry, and as such do not compete directly with manufacturers of the United States, announced the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) on March 9.

On March 8, 2018, US President Donald Trump signed off on a decision to apply measures restricting the imports of steel and aluminum under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, in the form of increasing import levies. Accordingly, a number of steel and aluminum products imported to the US will be subject to a 25% tariff and a 10% tariff, respectively. The decision takes effect 15 days after the date on which it was signed.

The MOIT continued to affirm its stance that steel and aluminum imports from Vietnam do not provide direct competition for US manufacturers.

The volume of steel and aluminum imports from Vietnam only accounts for a negligible share of the US’s total steel and aluminum import volume, so it cannot be a threat or a cause of damages to the steel and aluminum production industry of the US, the ministry said.

It stated that the newly issued policy would directly impact US consumers and the US industries that use steel and aluminum products as input materials for their production.

On the basis of the efforts to accelerate comprehensive partnership between the two countries over the past few years, the MOIT asked the US Government consider an exclusion for Vietnam-originated steel and aluminum imports to fall outside the application scope of restriction measures, as these products do not affect the US’ goal of ensuring national security.

The MOIT will continue to closely follow developments in the case and consider all subsequent measures to protect the legitimate interests of businesses and promote the finely growing comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and the US.

Nhan Dan