Challenges from RCEP for Vietnam's exports to the Australian market
- The increasing competition pressure with other RCEP members
In addition to the expected opportunities, RCEP also poses certain challenges for Vietnam, especially from the perspective of competitive pressure in the Australian market. Because RCEP opens up opportunities to access the Australian market with preferential tariffs/rules of origin for all member countries, not just Vietnam. This means that Vietnamese exports to the Australian market will face fiercer competition from many rivals in the RCEP region, especially countries with similar export product structures and direct competition with Vietnam.
- Risk of increased trade defense measures
Australia is one of the trading partners that uses a lot of trade defense measures (TMFs) against imported goods from foreign countries in general and from Vietnam in particular. In the coming time, with the advantage of tariff reduction from the Agreement, Vietnam's exports to Australia are expected to increase, thereby increasing the risk of facing TMFs initiated by the Australian domestic manufacturing industry.
- Other regular challenges
In addition to the challenges associated with RCEP, Vietnam's exports to Australia also face many other regular challenges, especially non-tariff measures (Non-Tariff Measures - NTMs). "Non-tariff measures" are measures other than tariffs that countries apply to goods moving across borders. In theory, these measures are used for each country's legitimate management goals (protecting human health and life, food safety and hygiene, protecting the environment, etc.). However, in many cases, NTMs can be abused as a form of restricting imports.
Australia's NTMs applied to imported goods in general (not just goods from Vietnam) are not related to RCEP. However, the need to eliminate tariffs as committed and more favorable rules of origin may be the driving force for increasing NTM to "compensate", causing Vietnamese exports to face more stringent requirements and demands from the Australian market
Source: Center for WTO and International Trade
