Reuters:
Vietnam is working to sign a trade agreement with the United States soon, Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son said on Wednesday, as a new round of talks gets underway in Washington.
In October, both countries agreed to finalise a deal within weeks that would maintain U.S. tariffs of 20 percent on Vietnamese goods but exempt some products from duties imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump in August.
Speaking at a conference in Hanoi, Son urged U.S. businesses to support the negotiations, saying their help could enable the two sides to “soon sign a fair and balanced trade agreement.”
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Michael DeSombre, said in a recorded message at the conference that the deal should rebalance trade flows and reduce the U.S. trade deficit with Vietnam, which is currently the largest after China and Mexico.
Vietnam has recorded a $111 billion trade surplus with the U.S. in the first 10 months of the year, potentially setting a new annual record, according to Vietnamese data. A delegation led by Trade Minister Nguyen Hong Dien is in Washington this week to continue negotiations, the trade ministry said. Sources familiar with the talks said discussions are focusing on which Vietnamese products, like coffee, could be exempted from U.S. tariffs and on preferential access for U.S. goods, including cars and agricultural products, to the Vietnamese market.
Vietnam hopes to finalise the deal after the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the legality of Trump’s tariffs, potentially by December or mid-2026. Officials also aim to mark the signing with a high-level meeting between Trump and Vietnam’s top leader, To Lam, though past efforts to arrange such a meeting have not succeeded.
Deputy Prime Minister Son also called on U.S. businesses to encourage Washington to recognise Vietnam as a market economy and lift restrictions on the export of high-tech goods such as advanced semiconductors.
