In the first nine months of 2019, Vietnam’s exports to the US jumped by 34.8 per cent. >But the US no longer considers Vietnam a developing country. This means Vietnam will stop receiving some preferential treatment. Vietnam’s developing country status with the WTO remains unchanged and it still enjoys the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). Vietnam, however, will have to be even more careful to deal with origin fraud and transshipment as this has been the source of US tariffs on Vietnam in the past. The tariffs were imposed to prevent steel products that originated from China attempting to bypass anti-dumping rules. Overall, Vietnam-US trade will likely to continue to increase. However, Vietnam will need to be more careful particularly for industries such as steel, footwear and agricultural products exports to the US, which have been growing. If it does not, the US is likely to impose countervailing duties on products that it deems to harm its domestic industries.

The US has recently slimmed down its list of developing and least developed countries. So the move is not directed specifically at Vietnam but includes several other countries. The move will allow the US a reduced threshold for starting an investigation into which countries are harming US industries with subsidized exports.