CTA, NRF, 22 Others Seek Delay in Tuesday's Section 301 Vietnam Hearing

Two dozen trade associations and business groups, including CTA and the National Retail Federation, urged the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to delay Tuesday’s Section 301 investigative hearing into Vietnam’s alleged currency manipulation practices to allow time to digest the Treasury Department’s Dec. 16 report blasting Vietnam’s trade behavior. The report is “of critical importance” to the Section 301 investigation but was released six days after the deadline for comments and requests to appear at the hearing, wrote the groups Friday. Treasury’s finding “could have substantial impact on the ongoing investigation,” they said. “Interested parties should be given an opportunity to comment on this report” before USTR finishes its investigation, they said: Stakeholders are “entitled to a meaningful opportunity to be heard” under the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution. The Retail Industry Leaders Association, Semiconductor Industry Association and U.S. Chamber of Commerce also signed the letter. Treasury’s report said Vietnam was one of several “major U.S. trading partners” that “intervened in the foreign exchange market in a sustained, asymmetric manner.” Vietnam also met and exceeded Treasury’s “objective criteria” for identifying “potentially unfair currency practices or excessive external imbalances, which could weigh on U.S. growth or harm U.S. workers and firms,” said the report. If any of the groups that wrote seeking the hearing delay got an answer from USTR, "I have not heard about it yet," emailed CTA Vice President-International Trade Sage Chandler Wednesday. USTR didn’t respond to questions.