U.S. apparel imports were virtually flat in 2017 as retailers and brands continued to tighten inventory levels amid stable sales but lower average prices. Vietnam, Mexico and India gained a bigger piece of the U.S. import pie, taking share from China and, to a lesser extent, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Honduras.
More than half of small and medium enterprises in ASEAN region (52%) are expecting revenue growth this year, with 26% projecting a double-digit growth.
Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Co-operation Sigrid Kaag visited Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City on February 6-7, 2018, aiming to enhance trade and investment co-operation between the Netherlands and Vietnam.
Trade promotion in Việt Nam is facing many difficulties as many importers, such as the US, China, Japan and the European Union, were now protecting their own farm production.
Policy orientation in modern-age trade negotiations has progressively turned to non-price measures looking beyond tariff liberalisation. In the past, India’s FTAs did not necessarily and always benefit domestic exports and exporters. Instead, imports increased more than exports in most cases. So, there exist instruments, other than custom tariffs, that are operative in constraining access to markets abroad
The government are planning to sign the re-branded Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) in Chile on March 8th 2018.
The Ministry of Transport and the Australian Government on February 9 signed an agreement to launch Aus4Transport, a 24 million USD programme for the development of transport projects in Vietnam.
Trade in paper between Việt Nam and India is quite low and there is significant potential for growth, a meeting between Indian and Vietnamese paper companies heard in HCM City on February 9.
Following the somewhat unexpected resurrection of the TPP (now officially the CPTPP – Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership), with all 11 members expected to sign off on the revised agreement in March this year, Australian farmers are being flagged as one of the big winners of the deal.
Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has urged trade counsellors to assist domestic businesses by providing information about foreign markets, promoting trade and investment activities, and increasing sales of Vietnamese products abroad.
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