Socialist Republic of Vietnam

US retail firms have criticized the Department of Commerce’s (DOC) monitoring mechanism against apparel imports from Vietnam, saying it would affect both Vietnamese and Americans.

At a public hearing in Washington Tuesday, Ronald Shulman, chairman of giant retailer JC Penney Company, said the surveillance would hit the Vietnam textile industry and also retailers and consumers in the US.

Stephanie Lester, deputy chairwoman of the US Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), said her association strongly protested the decision.

Most of the products the RILA members purchased from Vietnam could not be supplied by domestic production.

The DOC’s surveillance program was inappropriate and a misuse of government resources to monitor imports of products to possibly self-initiate anti-dumping proceedings though there were no domestic producers of the items.

The department should chew over the serious consequences caused by the decision.

RILA’s members include retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers who together account for more than US$1.5 trillion in annual sales.

Thomas Vakerios, a representative of the Vietnam Producers/Exporters Group, warned that the apparel monitoring was causing friction in business relations between the two countries.

Matthew Nicely, a lawyer for the Korean International Trade Association, said the monitoring violated WTO rules.

Representatives of the International Textile Group, the National Retail Federation, the Association of US Importers of Textile and Apparel, and Hampshire Group all objected to the surveillance mechanism and told the DOC to reconsider the decision.

The DOC began monitoring import of textile and apparel products from Vietnam after the latter acceded to the World Trade Organization in January.

Voice of Vietnam

Nguyen Duy Khien, Vietnam’s commercial counselor in the US, told the hearing that the surveillance program was discriminatory and against the WTO’s anti-dumping principles and agreements.

It would hurt both Vietnam and the US importers, he added.

Le Xuan Duong, director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency in New York, told the DOC its decision would harm two million workers in Vietnam’s garment industry.

Minor support

As anticipated, the US National Textile Association insisted on the monitoring program.

Its representative said Vietnam had a non-market economy and, therefore, a specific monitoring program was necessary to control an expected flood of Vietnamese apparel following the automatic removal of US quotas after Vietnam joined the WTO.

The DOC will gather data on Vietnamese garment exports to the US in the first six months before making a decision on the monitoring program.

Thanh Nien, VNA