Vietnam removed from list of beneficiaries of EAEU tariff preferences under GSP

Illustrative photo. (Source: VNA)

Vietnam will be removed from the list of countries entitled to tariff preferences offered by the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) under the Generalised Scheme Preferences (GSP) from October 12, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade).

The move is likely to have tremendous impacts on Vietnamese exporters to EAEU countries, namely Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, particularly Russia which remains the Southeast Asian country’s biggest buyer in the bloc, the Vietrade said in an announcement last week.

The agency recommended exporters to come up with plans to adapt to the change and to explore tariff preferences and corresponding preferential rules of origin under the EAEU – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement in place of the GSP.

Vietnam is among 75 developing countries removed from the list, alongside two least-developed nations.

Despite impacts of COVID-19, two-way trade between Vietnam and the EAEU expanded 6.5 percent to 5.2 billion USD last year, of which Vietnam’s exports to the EAEU totalled 3.1 billion USD and imports 2.1 billion USD, up 7.2 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively, from the previous year.

Of the figure, trade with Russia accounted for 93.7 percent./.