• The increasing competition pressure with other RCEP members

Besides expected opportunities, RCEP also poses many challenges to Vietnam, especially from the perspective of competitive pressure in the export market. Because RCEP provides preferential tariffs/rules of origin for all member countries, not just Vietnam, to enter the China market, which means that Vietnam's exports in the China market will face more intense competition from many competitors in the region, especially countries with almost similar export product structures and direct competition with Vietnam.

• Other regular challenges

Besides the challenges associated with RCEP, Vietnam's export of goods to China also faces many other regular challenges, especially non-tariff measures (NTMs).

NTMs refer to all measures other than tariffs that countries apply to goods moving across borders. In principle, these measures are applied to realize the legitimate management goals of each country (protecting human’s health and life, food safety, environmental protection, etc.). However, in many cases, NTM may be abused as a form of import restriction.

China’s NTM measures are generally applied to imported goods (not just goods from Vietnam) and are not related to RCEP. However, tariff reduction and more favorable rules of origin could be a catalyst to promote the use of NTMs, causing Vietnam's exported goods to face additional or stricter requirements from the China market.

Source: Center for WTO and International Trade

• China’s tariff commitments on imported goods under the RCEP
• China's additional rules of origin under the RCEP
• China's origin certification mechanism under the RCEP
• China’s commitments on opening service market under the RCEP
• Opportunities from RCEP for exporting Vietnamese goods to China