The COVID-19 Prevention and Control Steering Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam held a meeting on March 20, 2020 on Vietnam’s domestic production, supply of necessities, and the impact of the epidemic on Vietnam’s exports to the United States and the European Union. Meeting.
Minister of Industry and Trade Chen Junying said that currently the competent authorities of the European Union and the United States have not imposed any restrictions on the import of Vietnamese textiles and clothing. This is purely a decision made by importers in the above-mentioned markets in response to the epidemic.
Xie Huangling, director of the European and American Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said at the meeting that after learning that some European and American partners had informed them of stopping imports of Vietnamese textiles and clothing, representatives of the department and the European Union Representatives from the Representative Office in Vietnam and the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam held discussions. At the meeting, the EU Representative Office in Vietnam stated that the EU’s border closure is only an epidemic prevention measure to protect people’s health. Trade with the EU, especially the import of necessities such as food and medicine, continues normally.
In response to news that the U.S. government is adopting a policy of temporarily suspending imports of Vietnamese textiles and clothing, Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States Ho Kim Ngoc stressed that the news is incorrect.
He Jinyu said in an interview that the embassy has contacted relevant US authorities and learned that the US government has no proposal to suspend the import of Vietnamese textiles and clothing.
Ho Kim Ngoc said that the comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and the United States has continued to move forward recently, and bilateral cooperation has achieved positive results. The two governments have maintained close cooperation to promote the balanced and sustainable development of Vietnam-US trade relations. The United States is currently one of Vietnam’s major trading partners and the largest export market for Vietnamese goods. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Commerce, bilateral trade volume reached US$77.6 billion in 2019, making Vietnam one of the 15 largest trading partners of the United States. In the first two months of this year, Vietnam’s exports of goods to the United States continued to maintain growth momentum, with exports reaching US$10.26 billion, an increase of 25.7%.
For Vietnam’s textile and garment industry, the United States is a huge and potential market for such products. In 2019, Vietnam’s textile and apparel exports to the United States reached nearly 15 billion US dollars, accounting for 45% of the country’s total exports of such products. In the first two months of this year, textile and apparel exports to the United States reached US$2.25 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5.3%, accounting for nearly 48% of the country’s total textile and apparel exports. Exports of footwear products to the United States reached US$985 million, an increase of 7.4%.
However, under the current severe and complicated COVID-19 epidemic around the world, a decline in trade in various fields, including the textile industry, is inevitable. In the United States, as government guidance on epidemic prevention begins to be implemented, many businesses and retail centers such as Macy, TJMax, Walmart, Target, NordstromRack, etc. have temporarily closed or shortened their opening hours. The economic difficulties and the decline in shopping demand of American consumers will affect the import activities of relevant products. Therefore, if the epidemic in the United States continues, Vietnam’s exports of goods will be affected to a certain extent.
He Jinyu believes that in the current difficult stage, companies should remain calm. On the other hand, they need to continue to make full use of opportunities to maintain production and export products. On the other hand, they should regard it as a good opportunity to verify their production and operation strategies, increase investment in technology and human resources, further adapt to the new situation, find new partners, and diversify products and export markets. Work with the Vietnamese government and businesses to overcome the current challenges.
In addition, Vietnamese companies should also conscientiously implement the Prime Minister’s guidance on combating origin fraud and tax evasion, and not violate the relevant regulations of the two countries and affect Vietnamese goods. Export activities to the US market.
As for the cooperation between Vietnam and the United States in the current prevention and control of the new coronavirus epidemic, Ho Kim Ngoc said that Vietnam and the United States are achieving many positive results in medical and health cooperation in response to the epidemic. result.
Since the end of January 2020, medical institutions and experts from the two countries have been sharing information and working together to respond to the epidemic. The Vietnamese Embassy in the United States has established communication channels with the U.S. Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The United States speaks highly of the Vietnamese government’s strong, efficient and transparent epidemic prevention efforts. Recently, the U.S. government has notified that the US Agency for International Development’s Infectious Disease Rapid Response Reserve Fund will allocate US$37 million to support countries in the region, including Vietnam, in responding to the COVID-19 epidemic.
