Vietnam, US agree to start negotiations on reciprocal trade agreement

On the afternoon of April 9, 2025 (local time), within the framework of his visit to the United States as Special Envoy of General Secretary To Lam to discuss bilateral economic and trade issues, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc met with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

Working scene.

Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc affirmed that Vietnam wishes to continue to strengthen and deepen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the United States; thanked the US Government for always supporting a "strong, independent, self-reliant and prosperous" Vietnam; emphasized that Vietnam is persistent in building an independent and self-reliant economy, and persistently pursuing an independent, self-reliant foreign policy, multilateralizing and diversifying foreign relations.

Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc affirmed that Vietnam wishes to work with relevant US agencies to concretize the contents of the exchange between General Secretary To Lam and US President Donald Trump on April 4, 2025, thereby continuing to maintain stable and sustainable economic and trade relations for the benefit of businesses and people of the two countries.

The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that in recent times, Vietnam has proactively implemented many measures to contribute to resolving the trade deficit between the two sides, responding to the concerns of the United States; accordingly, the US's imposition of high tariffs on Vietnamese export goods is not consistent with the mutually beneficial economic and trade relations between the two countries, and does not reflect the spirit of the Vietnam-US Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

The Deputy Prime Minister suggested that although the United States has decided to postpone the imposition of tariffs for 90 days, the two countries need to soon negotiate a bilateral trade agreement to create a long-term framework to promote stable and mutually beneficial economic and trade relations, in line with the framework of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer highly appreciated Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc's visit as Special Envoy of General Secretary To Lam, expressing gratitude and appreciation for Vietnam's positive and proactive steps, demonstrating Vietnam's commitment to promoting Vietnam-US economic and trade relations.

The US Trade Representative affirmed that the US highly values ​​bilateral relations with Vietnam and wishes to closely coordinate to resolve the trade deficit, aiming for increasingly deeper relations in all fields.

The US Trade Representative shared the reasons and challenges facing the US economy that forced the Trump administration to implement the recent tariff policy, explaining that the high tax rate imposed by the Trump administration on Vietnam is due to the large trade deficit between the US and Vietnam.

The United States agreed that the two sides should begin negotiations on a reciprocal trade agreement, which would include tariff agreements, and asked technical levels from both sides to begin discussions immediately.

The two sides agreed to continue to closely coordinate to promote a favorable business environment, proactively review and consider minimizing non-tariff barriers to each other's goods, creating favorable conditions for US businesses to increase investment and business in Vietnam, and strengthening coordination to control and prevent acts of trade fraud.

On April 8-9, 2025, within the framework of his working visit to the United States, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc had meetings with Senator Bill Hagerty (Republican-Tennessee), Senator Steve Daines (Republican-Montana) and many US organizations and businesses.

Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc highly appreciated the support of the US Congress and individual senators for the Vietnam-US relationship, expressed his joy at the positive developments in the Vietnam-US relationship after the two countries established a comprehensive strategic partnership, and emphasized the significance of 2025 as the year marking the 30th anniversary of the normalization of relations between the two countries.

Regarding bilateral economic and trade relations, the Deputy Prime Minister said that the Vietnam-US relationship is complementary; Vietnam does not compete with the US's strong products, imports many products, services and high technology from the US; recently, Vietnam has proactively addressed many concerns of the US.

The Deputy Prime Minister proposed that the US Congress continue to support and have a voice so that the US can lift tax measures on Vietnamese goods, and support the two countries to negotiate and discuss to soon reach a long-term and sustainable bilateral trade cooperation agreement that meets the interests of the people and businesses of both countries.

The two Senators recalled their good memories when visiting Vietnam; wished that the Vietnam-US relationship would continue to develop further and make positive contributions to peace and stability in the region and the world.

The two Senators appreciated Vietnam's proactive approach in handling tariff issues with the United States; affirmed their support for Vietnam-US trade relations on the basis of overall strategic benefits in the bilateral relationship; believed that Vietnam and the United States would soon start the negotiation process and find solutions to promote stable and mutually beneficial economic and trade relations in the coming time.

During his time working in the United States, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc also held many meetings with groups of experts, intellectuals, and large enterprises from the United States and Vietnam, including witnessing the Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony between Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company and Air Finance Company of the United States.

According to Nhan Dan

Source: https://baobacgiang.vn/viet-nam-hoa-ky-thong-nhat-khoi-dong-dam-phan-thoa-thuan-thuong-mai-doi-ung-postid415774.bbg