Vietnam wants to build sustainable, balanced trade ties with US: Prime Minister

Vietnam is actively addressing the current concerns of the U.S. regarding bilateral investment and trade relations, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh told U.S. Ambassador Marc Knapper at a meeting on Thursday.

That includes sending Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien as a Special Envoy to the U.S. to co-chair the Trade and Investment Council (TIFA) meeting, he said.

"Vietnam is also actively reviewing import tariffs on goods from the U.S. and encouraging increased imports of U.S. products that Vietnam has demand for, especially agricultural products, LNG, and high-tech products," Chinh noted.

The meeting in Hanoi aims to discuss priority areas to promote cooperation on occasion of the 30th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations.

The Vietnamese Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam wishes to build a sustainable, harmonious, stable and balanced trade-investment ties with the U.S.

He recommended the U.S. to continue taking steps towards recognizing Vietnam as a market economy and creating conditions for the country to import high-tech equipment from the U.S.

Chinh said he appreciated Ambassador Knapper's efforts in promoting the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including maintaining and promoting high-level contacts, notably the "very successful phone call" between Party General Secretary To Lam and President Donald Trump before and after his election.

Vietnam always considers the U.S. "a partner of strategic importance", he said, confirming the consistent message of Party chief To Lam and senior Vietnamese leaders that they especially appreciate and wish to cooperate closely with the Trump administration to promote the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and maintain a stable development momentum of bilateral relations which have become increasingly substantive and in-depth.

For his part, Ambassador Marc Knapper affirmed that the U.S. prioritizes developing relations with Vietnam based on the principle of respecting Vietnam's political institutions, independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and supporting a strong, independent, self-reliant and prosperous Vietnam.

The U.S. wants to expand cooperation in all areas, including overcoming the consequences of war, defense-security, education-training, supporting Vietnam in training high-quality human resources and human resources in the semiconductor industry, cooperating with Vietnam in exploiting essential minerals, and researching and developing nuclear energy.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on March 8 assigned cabinet members to ouline plans for balancing Vietnam's trade with major partners, amid external trade tensions. He requested taxes to be reviewed and adjusted in accordance with the interests of all parties, especially major partners.

The United States was Vietnam's biggest export market in the first two months of the year, with an export revenue of $19.6 billion, up 16.5% year-on-year; while China was the biggest import source with $23.3 billion, up 20.7%.

China was the biggest trade partner with a turnover of $31.2 billion, followed by the U.S. with $22.2 billion, the ASEAN with $13.5 billion, South Korea with $13.4 billion, the EU with $11.2 billion, and Japan with $7.9 billion.

Vietnam's trade surplus with the U.S. in the two months was $17 billion.