Vietnam’s textile and garment exports to the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) have exceeded trigger levels, or the total amount subject to preferential tariffs allowed into EAEU markets for this year.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Department of Domestic Market Protection of the Eurasian Economic Commission has announced that 173.3 tons of underwear and 112.7 tons of children’s clothes from Vietnam had been shipped to EAEU in the year to end-October, exceeding the trigger levels for this year in accordance with a free trade agreement between Vietnam and EAEU.

The agreement also stipulates that the union can slap safeguard duties on products beyond trigger levels within six months upon the shipment. In case the trigger levels are breached, Vietnamese underwear and children’s clothes will not be entitled to preferential tax and will be imposed Most Favored Nation (MFN) import duties.For each product, a trigger will apply each year if the volume of any products imported into the EAEU exceed the trigger for that year, the EAEU will immediately announce it to Vietnam by written document.