At the regular press conference of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the afternoon of April 24, spokesperson Pham Thu Hang answered questions from the press about the US Department of Commerce announcing that on April 21, it will impose tariffs on solar panels on 4 Southeast Asian countries, including those on Vietnam.
Spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said: "Vietnam is ready to discuss with US agencies to jointly resolve problems, ensuring the review of related information in an objective, fair manner, in accordance with international practices, thereby facilitating the promotion of bilateral economic, trade and investment cooperation".
"We are committed to striving to promote trade activities in a fair and transparent manner while protecting the legitimate rights of enterprises producing and doing business in Vietnam" - the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam affirmed.
The US government announced on April 21 its intention to impose a tax rate - the highest of up to 3,521% - on solar panels imported from Southeast Asia. The proposal still has to wait for final approval from the US International Trade Commission (ITC) at its meeting in June.
This decision is the result of an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation conducted by many solar power companies in the US and internationally about a year ago.
It is expected that the proposed tax rate for Cambodia can be up to 3,521%, while products of Chinese company Jinko Solar exported from Malaysia are subject to a tax of 40%, from Vietnam are subject to a tax of 245%; products of Chinese company Trina Solar are subject to a tax of 375% if exported from Thailand and more than 200% if from Vietnam.
These tariffs do not include the basic 10% tax that the Trump administration applied since the beginning of April to most of the goods from key trading partners.
