As the US is an important market of Vietnam,the TPP, with its extensive tariff cuts and investment liberalizationmeasures, will give Vietnam’s products greater access to the US as wellas the markets of other TPP members.
It isprojected that the country’s export value to the US will rise by atleast 20 percent, making the US the biggest export market of Vietnam.
Nguyen Hong Duong, deputy head of the AmericanMarket Department under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, said withthe TPP in place, many Vietnamese commodities will become morecompetitive when the tax level is reduced to zero.
“There are many opportunities for Vietnam to increase exports to theUS even without the TPP, because Vietnamese goods currently account foronly 0.98 percent of the US’s imports,” Duong said.
Stuart Schaag, trade counselor at the US Embassy in Hanoi, noted thatVietnam’s exports to the US have doubled since 2009, while the US’sexports to Vietnam went up by 61 percent.
He added that the TPP can also increase the flow of US investment into Vietnam.
Experts said the TPP negotiations have helped address existing issuesbetween Vietnamese and US businesses such as intellectual property andfinancial service suppliers.
At the same time,they reminded Vietnamese companies of challenges they will face in theUS market, ranging from pressure to open up the market to the threat oftrade lawsuits.
Duong pointed to the US’s strict trade and technical barriers, especially for agricultural products and food.
Another barrier to Vietnam commodities is the requirement formaterials and parts of products to have their origin in Vietnam or otherTPP members in order to enjoy preferential tariff levels.
Therefore, experts urged Vietnamese manufacturers to join regionaland global production and supply chains, strictly observe internationalregulations on investment, labour and environment as well as TPPstipulations. At the same time, the State should adjust the legalsystem in line with the TPP and popularise information on the agreement.
The TPP covers 12 Pacific Rim nations whichare Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, NewZealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vienam. The 12 members, whichtogether account for 37.5 percent of the world GDP and 11.2 percent ofthe world population, have completed the 19th round of negotiations onthe agreement.-VNA