May 9 – The U.S. Department of Commerce has cleared Vietnam from apparel import dumping citing insufficient evidence to warrant an investigation. The agency studied 12 months of apparel import data beginning from Vietnam’s entry into the World Trade Organization in 2007.

The move is part of U.S. efforts to prevent dumping practices wherein a product sold in the importing country is less than the price of that product in the market of the exporting country.

“Our department will continue our commitment to examine imports from Vietnam to ensure that apparel is not dumped into the U.S. market, threatening American manufacturers’ competitiveness,” said Assistant Commerce Secretary David Spooner in a press release.

He added, “Our investigation reveals that prices of Vietnamese apparel are in line with, and in most cases even exceed, other major suppliers, including Central America.”

The agency reviewed data from five different apparel product groups: trousers, shirts, underwear, swimwear and sweaters.

The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) predicts that Vietnam will soon become the second largest apparel exporter to the United States after China, overtaking India and Mexico.

Last year, Vietnam posted the highest growth rate at 34 percent among the leading apparel exporters to the United States, namely China, Mexico, India and Indonesia.

AmCham says at their current rate, Vietnamese producers will stand to earn US$6.1 billion in exports from the United States by the end of the year.