Conference: “Enhancing Trade Defense and Early Warning Capabilities for Vietnamese Businesses in the Context of Global Tax Policy Changes” in Ho Chi Minh City

On May 7-8, 2025, the Trade Defense Department organized a training conference on “Enhancing Trade Defense and Early Warning Capabilities for Vietnamese Businesses in the Context of Global Tax Policy Changes” in Ho Chi Minh City. Attendees included representatives from the Trade Defense Department, state management agencies, and numerous representatives from businesses and industry associations in the province.

In 2025, the global economy continues to experience significant fluctuations, particularly in global tax policy. Countries are increasingly adopting trade defense measures against new global tax rules to protect their domestic industries. Accordingly, trade defense investigations have not only increased in number but also become more complex as investigating countries introduce stricter regulations such as requiring very detailed information, limiting the time for answering questionnaires, expanding investigations to include more subjects, and promoting the application of new legal regulations to increase applicable tariffs. Therefore, the need to support and enhance trade defense capabilities and provide early warnings for Vietnamese businesses in the current context is essential.

The conference provided an overview of trade defense tools, presented specific case studies in US anti-dumping investigations from notification to submission of questionnaire responses. In addition, the conference program updated participants on the global and regional trade defense context and trends, and the situation of recent cases involving Vietnamese businesses. Therefore, several points should be noted for businesses to effectively respond to trade defense cases and trade defense risks when exporting goods to foreign markets, including key markets such as the United States, the EU, and India. In particular, the United States accounts for nearly 50% of the total number of investigations initiated against Vietnamese export goods.

Currently, the United States is applying reciprocal tariffs on imports from all countries into the US. A floor tariff of 10% will be applied from April 5, 2025. Subsequently, from April 9, 2025, 57 countries/territories will be subject to specific reciprocal tariffs ranging from 10% to 50% (not yet adjusted for China). Vietnam is subject to a 46% tariff. If trading partners take significant steps to rectify non-reciprocal trade agreements and align sufficiently with the United States on economic and national security issues, the United States may reduce or limit the scope of the applied tariffs. Currently, the United States is temporarily suspending the application of these reciprocal tariffs for 90 days to negotiate with other countries, applying only a 10% tariff during that period (excluding China).

Through this conference, businesses in the city gained reliable information on trade defense and trade barriers in the current context. The Trade Defense Department noted that local authorities, associations, and businesses need to monitor early warning information and closely coordinate with the Trade Defense Department to provide timely information and cooperate in the review process when handling foreign trade defense investigations.