Vietnam says it will start trade talks with United States

HANOI: Vietnam and the United States agreed to start negotiations on a reciprocal trade agreement, Hanoi said on Thursday, hours after Washington delayed imposing an enormous tariff on the Southeast Asian manufacturing powerhouse.

The United States was Vietnam’s biggest export market in the first three months of the year, but President Donald Trump hit it with a 46 percent duty as part of a global trade blitz announced last week.

Trump paused the stiff new tariffs on Wednesday and Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc suggested the two countries “should soon negotiate a bilateral trade agreement… to promote stable and mutually beneficial economic and trade relations”, according to a statement on the government news portal.

Phoc has been appointed by top leader To Lam to negotiate with the United States on tariffs. He met with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Wednesday.

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

Phoc had meetings with senators and many organisations and businesses while in the United States, it said.

Vietnamese budget airline Vietjet said on Thursday it had signed a $300 million agreement with AV AirFinance, a commercial aviation lending company, to boost its fleet.

It said the agreement, signed in the presence of Phoc, was part of a broader series of aircraft financing deals totalling more than $4 billion that Vietjet had secured with leading US partners.

AV AirFinance said Vietjet would begin taking delivery of the first batch of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft this year as part of a $24 billion deal originally announced in 2019.

Vietnam had previously asked Trump for a delay of at least 45 days on the new tariff.

Experts said the levy could seriously damage Vietnam’s growth model, which relies heavily on exports to the United States.

Vietnam pledged to buy more US goods, including security and defence products, as it sought a reprieve.

Trump claimed the communist country charges the United States a 90 percent tariff, a figure based on Vietnam’s trade surplus with the United States, worth $123.5 billion last year.

His administration also appeared particularly angry about what it sees as the country’s role in attempts to get around tariffs imposed on China.

Vietnam said in Thursday’s statement that it had “proactively addressed many concerns of the US”.