U.S. Trade Official Advises Vietnam Textile Exporters to Raise Quality

A U.S. trade official has advised Vietnamese textile and garment manufacturers to further improve the quality of their products and boost exports into the U.S. market as he predicted his market would regain stability within the next six months, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

 

David Spooner, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Import Administration, was speaking at his discussions with Vietnamese textile and garment exporters in Hanoi December 10.

 

Le Van Dao, vice chairman of the Vietnam Textiles and Apparel Association, said that Vietnamese textile and apparel exporters should prioritize export orders with a high economic benefit to the U.S.

 

He pointed out a number of opportunities and challenges that will arise in the U.S. market as the country experiences a transitional time between the Bush and Obama administrations.

 

In November this year, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) released a statement saying that Vietnamese textile and apparel exporters were not guilty of dumping their products in the U.S. and that there was no grounds for the launch of a lawsuit against them.

 

While appreciating the DOC’s statement, the Vietnam Textiles and Apparels Association hoped that the new U.S. administration would respect the old administration’s commitments to not extending its surveillance program or imposing additional trade barriers to garment and textile imports from Vietnam.

 

Vietnam will outstrip Mexico and India to win the second position, just behind China, by shipping US$5 billion of apparel products to the U.S. this year, up US$400 million from last year, according to the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham). (VNA)