According to a report by Reuters on October 14th, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Phan Xy Thu said during an event in Hanoi that Vietnam and the United States are nearing the completion of negotiations for a trade agreement. However, US officials seem to be more cautious.
It is reported that as an export-dependent economy, Vietnam has been in negotiations with the United States for over a year to avoid punitive tariffs. The United States is Vietnam’s major market, but previously, officials of the Trump administration repeatedly accused Vietnam of being used as a transit point to reduce tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US.
Fan Jiazu at a commercial forum in Hanoi, expressed that Vietnam had sent the final text of an agreement to the United States. He stated: "We expect the United States to continue to create favorable conditions for Vietnamese products to enter the US market in a stable and sustainable way."
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the US global tariffs in February, the Trump administration initiated three investigations into Vietnam's trade practices.
One of the investigations involves Vietnam, which is suspected of failing to prevent the use of goods produced through forced labor. This has led to the imposition of a 12.5% tariff on Vietnamese products by the United States, which is higher than that imposed on most other countries in the region. The other two investigations concern industrial overcapacity and intellectual property protection. These investigations are still ongoing and could lead to additional tariffs.
Fan Jiazhu said that Vietnam expects the United States to make objective and balanced assessments in these investigations.
Vietnam's official media reported that Vietnam's supreme leader, Su Lin, has been invited to attend the G20 Summit in Florida in December, which increases the hope that the agreement may be finalized at that time.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce David Foulad said during the event that he was "hoping" for continued cooperation between the two countries on trade agreements. However, he also warned that the U.S. trade deficit with Vietnam is the largest among all its trading partners. According to latest U.S. trade data, from January to August, Vietnam's trade surplus with the U.S. exceeded $163 billion, which is higher than that of Mexico and China, among other major U.S. trading partners.
To balance trade flows, Fogel urged Vietnamese companies to increase investment in the United States and pointed out that the United States can export ‘world-class super intelligent hardware’ to Vietnam. Vietnam currently faces limitations in obtaining the most advanced technologies from the United States.
U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Jennifer Wicks reiterated at the event that negotiations on trade agreements are still underway. She urged Vietnam to adjust its data protection regulations to attract investment and enable companies to efficiently implement new technologies. Wicks also called for Vietnam to establish predictable policies and stable pricing rules, which would facilitate foreign investment in its growing energy sector.
American technology companies have repeatedly warned that strict restrictions on cross-border data transmission in Vietnam are hindering investment in Vietnam.
