Any move by the US to impose tariffs on Vietnamese goods would hurt bilateral trade ties, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) said.

In case the US Trade Representative unilaterally pushes forward the imposition of duty on Vietnamese goods, the business community, producers and consumers of both countries will be the hardest hit.

The ministry made the comment after Reuters reported that the US Department of Commerce is to continue imposing tariffs on Vietnamese goods from December based on the accusation of the Southeast Asian country manipulating its currency.

Vietnam regretted the US Trade Representative (USTR)’s decision on October 2 to launch investigation under Act 1974’s section 301 into Vietnam’s currency and timber at a time when the two nations are enjoying fruitful relations across diplomacy, culture, economy and trade.

Right after the USTR decided to initiate the investigation, Vietnam told the US side that it stood ready to cooperate during the investigation, and set up a working group to work with relevant US partners.

Representatives from the State Bank of Vietnam are scheduled to hold a bilateral consultation with the US side later this month as agreed before, and it is extremely important for the two sides to maintain dialogue at the moment.

Vietnam hopes that the US will take an objective view during the investigation into its policies and management so as not to affect bilateral relations and efforts to boost cooperation between the two countries and their businesses, the ministry said.

In case the USTR unilaterally pushes forward the imposition of duty on Vietnamese goods, the business community, producers and consumers of both countries will be the hardest hit. On the part of Vietnam, enterprises will lose confidence in doing business with their US partners, thus possibly resulting in a decline in the import of US materials and technology which can lead to a reverse of the rising trend in imports from the US over the past several years.