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    Government/Policy

    May 24, 2024

    Price: Vietnam should not become a release valve for pressure on China

    Written by Alan Price & John Allen Riggins

    In conjunction with President Biden’s visit to Vietnam in September 2023, Vietnam’s government petitioned the US Department of Commerce (DOC) for “market economy” treatment. This would be a major trade concession, as DOC has recognized for years that Vietnam’s economy does not operate according to market principles. However, graduating Vietnam to market economy status would be factually incorrect, geopolitically naïve, and harmful to all US producers—particularly US steelmakers.

    DOC considers Vietnam, China, and several former Soviet Union countries to be nonmarket economies (NMEs). Systemic, distortive, economic forces in these countries make it impossible for DOC to determine a true market price when calculating an antidumping rate. Therefore, DOC substitutes surrogate prices from market economies to calculate what the fair value of products would be without distortions. Doing so prevents DOC from underestimating the level of dumping coming from these countries.

    Alan Price

    Price has more than 30 years of experience representing clients in high-profile, complex international trade regulatory matters, including trade litigation involving public and government relations issues. In addition to being chair of the firm’s International Trade Practice, he heads the firm’s antidumping and countervailing duty practice. He also counsels clients on bilateral and multilateral agreements, trade legislation, customs regulation, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) compliance issues, escape clause investigations, and World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute resolution.

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    John Allen Riggins

    Riggins advises in matters related to trade remedies, national security, supply chains, trade policy, and digital trade. He represents client interests in a variety of international trade remedy proceedings before the Department of Commerce (DOC) and International Trade Commission (ITC) and related litigation before the US Court of International Trade (CIT) and the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). Riggins has represented domestic producers in a wide array of industries, including steel, aluminum, wood, wind energy, transportation, and photovoltaics products.

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