Vietnam seeks to boost imports from US: Trade minister

THE HANOI TIMES — Vietnam continues to demonstrate strong and stable demand for high-value goods, equipment, and services from the United States, according to Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien.

The minister, who also heads the Government Negotiating Delegation, made the statement during a working session on May 7 with representatives of major Vietnamese enterprises aimed at advancing trade agreements with the US.

At the meeting attended by representatives of PVN, Petrolimex, PV Gas, EVN, TKV, Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet, Thaco Industry, Viettel, and VNPT, among other leading state-owned and private enterprises, Dien said Vietnam seeks to import the products of US strengths and meet Vietnam's growing needs. In recent years, major Vietnamese enterprises have purchased a large volume of US goods, including aircraft, machinery, equipment, gas-fired power plant turbines, power transmission systems, GPU chips, and key raw materials, amounting to several billion US dollars.

In mid-March, during Dien's official trip to Washington as the Prime Minister's Special Envoy, both sides inked several economic and trade cooperation agreements worth a total of US$4.15 billion.

To date, the two sides have inked contracts worth $50.15 billion, mainly focused on aircraft procurement, aviation services, oil and gas exploration, and petrochemical imports. Additional contracts and agreements worth about $36 billion are under negotiation and to be signed soon. As a result, the total value of US-Vietnam economic and trade agreements to be implemented from 2025 is estimated at around $90.3 billion.

At the meeting, representatives of Vietnamese companies stated that from now until June, they will increase their engagement with US partners to operationalize the signed agreements and memoranda of understanding.

In the first quarter of this year, Vietnam exported $31.4 billion worth of goods to the US and imported $4.1 billion, representing a 20% year-on-year increase in bilateral trade turnover.

Dien noted that the current level of trade between the two countries does not reflect its full potential. He called on Vietnamese businesses to step up efforts to tap this potential in the near future.

"This is a practical step to deepen economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two nations," Dien said, adding that it will help build a more balanced and sustainable trade relationship.

On the same day, Dien also met with US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc E. Knapper. He reaffirmed Vietnam's commitment to strengthening bilateral cooperation.

Emphasizing the complementary nature of the two economies, he stressed that both sides should promptly review and address challenges to facilitate the import and export of goods and meet each other's market demands.

Ambassador Marc E. Knapper highly appreciated Vietnam's proactive, good-faith, and constructive steps, and stated that the new US trade policy is designed to further promote trade and investment, protect economic security, national security, and US workers, and not to harm partner countries.

He expressed confidence that the ongoing US-Vietnam trade negotiations will produce positive results that benefit both citizens and businesses.