The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) has asked the United States to think carefully about proposals to restrict its steel and aluminium imports from Vietnam.
On February 16, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) recommended that President Donald Trump impose high tariffs and quotas on steel and aluminium imports from Vietnam and several other countries.
The DOC cited Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 stating that the quantities of steel and aluminium imports threaten to impair US national security.
But the trade volume from Vietnam accounts for a negligible proportion of total US imports, said the MOIT, advising that US actions must abide by WTO rules and international practices and must not hurt the fine trade relationship between the two countries.
The MOIT said it will follow developments regarding the incident closely and consider every possible measure to protect the legitimate rights of Vietnamese enterprises.
In its proposals, the DOC recommends imposing a tariff of at least 53% on all steel imports from Vietnam and 11 other countries and a strict quota on all steel products from all countries equal to 63% of each country’s 2017 exports to the US.
The final decision on the matter is expected to be made by the US president before April 11 for steel imports and April 19 for aluminium imports.
Source: Nhan Dan
Key words: Vietnam, urges, US, to think, twice, steel tariffs
