Vietnam PM requests more aircraft, LNG, agi import contracts with US in May

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has requested relevant Vietnamese authorities to urgently negotiate and sign contracts in May for import of goods from the U.S., such as LNG, aircraft, medicine, and agricultural products, to ensure a sustainable trade balance.

The cabinet leader on Tuesday chaired a meeting with ministries and agencies to review preparations for trade negotiations with the U.S., the sixth meeting chaired by him on U.S. reciprocal tariffs.

According to the Prime Minister, Vietnamese agencies have been actively handling issues related to the origin of goods, non-tariffs, intellectual property, and copyright.

For instance, wholly state-owned national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has reportedly received government approval to purchase 50 narrow-body aircraft without guarantees.

The Trump administration has postponed high reciprocal tariffs on dozens of trading partners for 90 days, including Vietnam. The temporary tariff is 10%.

A Vietnamese technical delegation is expected to visit the U.S. on Thursday, May 1 to work with relevant U.S. agencies on bilateral trade negotiations.

Prime Minister Chinh added that negotiations must be conducted in a calm, steadfast but flexible spirit, which must ensure sovereignty, national security, and national interests as well as Vietnam's international commitments.

The agencies should discuss with the U.S. side so that the two sides could reduce import tariffs on each other's goods to low and commensurate levels, he ordered.

They should also propose the U.S. soon recognize Vietnam as a market economy and remove restrictions on high-tech exports, contributing to balancing trade and technology transfer.

Vietnam will continue to amend its legal basis to address the U.S.'s concerns on the basis of ensuring sovereignty and international commitments and in line with the laws of both sides, Chinh noted.

The Prime Minister said that Vietnam has recently focused on amending many laws. At the upcoming session of the National Assembly in May, the Government will submit to the legislature amendments to many laws related to intellectual property, copyright protection, intellectual property protection, and administrative procedure reduction to suit the reality.

The government head noted that Vietnam is also closely coordinating with ASEAN and countries in the region to conduct negotiations, ensuring harmony of interests, a sustainable trade balance between the two sides, and commensuration with the ASEAN-U.S. Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

On the evening of April 23, Minister of Industry and Trade and head of the Government Negotiation Delegation Nguyen Hong Dien had a phone call with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to officially launch negotiations on bilateral economic and trade issues.

The two sides discussed the principles, scope and roadmap of the negotiations.

The following day, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) assessed this phone call as "effective" to discuss trade relations between the two countries.

President Trump on April 2 said that he would levy massive 46% tariffs on imports from Vietnam as part of a new wave of global impositions, effective from April 9.

Trump on April 9 dropped his reciprocal tariffs for countries reaching out to the U.S. to negotiate to 10% for 90 days. The 90-day reprieve is applied to nearly 90 nations except for China.