US slaps duties on Vietnamese tyres over undervalued currency

WASHINGTON, Nov 7 (Reuters): The US Commerce Department has slapped preliminary countervailing duties of 6.23% to 10.08% on imported light vehicle tyres from Vietnam, applying for the first time a new rule to combat undervalued currencies.

Vietnam has been on Washington's watchlist of currency manipulators because of its trade surplus with the United States, a large current account surplus and a perception that its central bank has been actively buying foreign currency.