No Hearing Planned on Section 301 Probe Into Vietnam’s Currency 'Interventions'

Comments are due Nov. 12 in docket USTR-2020-0037 on initiating a Trade Act Section 301 investigation into Vietnam’s allegedly unfair currency valuation practices (see 2010050005), says an Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notice for Thursday’s Federal Register. “Available analysis” found the Vietnamese dong was undervalued by about 7% in 2017 and 8.4% in 2018, and it was “undervalued in 2019 as well,” via Vietnamese government manipulation through the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), said USTR. “The evidence indicates that in 2019, the SBV undertook net purchases of foreign exchange totaling approximately $22 billion, which had the effect of undervaluing the dong’s exchange rate with the U.S. dollar,” it said. The investigation will determine whether Vietnam’s “interventions” are “unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict U.S. commerce,” and what actions USTR should take to address them, it said. Vietnam supplied 20.9% of all smartphone imports to the U.S. in Q3 and 6.4% of all laptop and tablet imports (see 2010070028). “In light of the uncertainties arising from COVID-19 restrictions, USTR is not at this time scheduling a public hearing in this investigation,” it said. The Vietnamese Embassy in Washington didn’t respond to questions.