US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Vietnam’s top trade official his country must improve the trade balance between the two countries and further open up its markets.
Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien, in a Thursday meeting in Washington with Greer, said his government is weighing the removal of “trade barriers” for American companies and will crack down on export fraud, according to a statement on the ministry’s website.
Vietnam later announced a number of deals between Vietnamese and US companies with an expected total value of $4.15 billion, according to a statement on the website of state-owned PetroVietnam Power. No financial details were provided about individual agreements.
Vietnam needs to have stronger solutions to open up its market and improve the trade balance between the two countries, Greer told Dien, according to the ministry statement.
The US ran a $123.5 billion trade deficit with Vietnam in 2024, according to the Office of the USTR. The gap is drawing attention to the country as Trump’s America First agenda relies on tariffs as part of a strategy to rectify what it sees as unfair trade policies.
The trade deficit is the third highest gap for the US, behind China and Mexico. Some of it comes down to re-routing, with Chinese companies setting up shop elsewhere to skirt tariffs. Vietnam overtook Japan as China’s third-largest export destination for the first time in 2024, putting the country at the forefront of the economic conflict between the two superpowers.
Vietnam’s top trade official told Greer the country is looking at removing “trade barriers that hinder investment and business activities” and putting in place mechanisms to prevent trade fraud and illegal transshipments, according to the statement.
The minister reiterated Vietnam’s request to be recognized as a market economy, which would help its companies’ exports to America.
In Hanoi, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh told US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper Thursday that Vietnamese officials are “addressing current concerns of the US in economic-trade-investment relations,” according to a separate post on the government’s website. The government is reviewing import tariffs on US goods and is encouraging increased imports of American products, such as liquefied natural gas, high-tech items and agricultural products.
The agreements in the PetroVietnam Power statement included:
- A consulting contract between Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical JSC and Kellogg Brown & Root
- Vietnam Gas Corp and ConocoPhillips and Excelerate Groups
- Vietnam Petroleum Group with three US ethanol supplier associations
- PetroVietnam Power and GE Vernova MOU on the procurement of GE equipment and services for gas-fired power plants developed by PV Power
Negotiations continue on a range of other agreements, such as importing crude oil, liquefied gas, petrochemical equipment and for power supply projects, among others, with an expected future value of about $36 billion, the statement said.