Vietnamese exporters of garments, textiles and leather shoes foresee Canada as a perfect destination because of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), experts there feel. Canada pledges to remove 94.5 per cent of tax lines on Vietnamese products, and after four years, some 96.3 per cent of the tax lines will cease to exist. The issue was discussed at a recent conference Ho Chi Minh City. According to Ngo Chung Khanh, deputy director of the ministry of industry and trade’s multilateral trade policy department, the CPTPP brings higher added value than the country’s other bilateral and multilateral trade pacts. Bui Tuan Hoan, an official from the ministry’s European-American Market Department, said import duties on garment and textiles will fall from 16-17 per cent to 0 per cent in four years while that on leather shoes will fall from 18 per cent to 0 percent in 7-11 years. Besides prices and product quality, Canadian customers look to exporters’ prestige, experience and ability to provide post-sale services when purchasing products, Trinh Thi Thu Hien from the ministry’s foreign trade agency told a news agency. According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, Vietnam-Canada trade tripled from $1.14 billion in 2010 to $3.85 billion last year, with Vietnam’s trade surplus at $2.14 billion in 2018. In the first two months of 2019, Vietnam’s exports to Canada exceeded $506 million, up 36.6 per cent year on year. The CPTPP, which took effect in Vietnam on January 14, has 11 member states—Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
