Vietnam says anti-dumping has already cost 40,000 jobs
Vietnam has called on the European Union not to extend anti-dumping duties on Chinese and Vietnamese leather shoes, saying the measures are protectionist and had already cost tens of thousands of jobs.
According to Reuters, the 27-member bloc's executive Commission is set to keep the duties, which were introduced for two years in 2006 and due to expire on October 7, while it reviews whether they are still necessary. Reuters quoted “people familiar with the matter” as its source.
The introduction of the duties was opposed by the Asian exporters, some EU governments and leading international footwear companies that make shoes in China and Vietnam.
"We are not dumping leather shoes on the EU market," Vietnam's deputy industry and trade minister Le Danh Vinh said.
"The extension of these duties is unjust, runs against the spirit of trade liberalisation, is contrary to the objectives of alleviating hunger, harms competition and has already cost 40,000 jobs," he told reporters in Brussels.
The EU's executive European Commission has to announce by Oct. 7 any decision to review whether the duties -- 16.5 percent for leather shoes from China and 10 percent for Vietnam -- should be introduced for a second period or dropped.
A review may last as long as 15 months, during which time the duties remain in place. Italian shoemakers earlier this year formally asked for them to be renewed.
"In March, the Commission told us the duties would be scrapped after they expired, but there has been a submission to extend the duties which will only benefit some EU countries with their own interests," the Vietnamese official said.
