Vietnam to sign $15-17 billion trade deal with US

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said he will sign multi-billion dollar contracts for goods and services during his visit to the US, mainly in services and high technology.

"Vietnam will increase imports of high technology and services from the US. And during this visit, many important agreements will also be made," Reuters quoted the Prime Minister as saying at a welcoming party of the US Chamber of Commerce yesterday. The value of the contracts could reach 15-17 billion USD.

The Prime Minister spoke with leaders of large US businesses and financial investment funds at the seminar. Photo: VGP

Earlier, also at the welcoming party, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer expressed concern about the growing US trade deficit with Vietnam. He said this was a new challenge for both countries and wanted Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to help resolve it.

“Over the past decade, the bilateral trade deficit has increased from $7 billion to nearly $32 billion,” said Mr. Lighthizer. “This worrying increase is a new challenge, demonstrating that there is still significant potential for further improvement in this important trade relationship.” The US is increasingly importing from Vietnam, from semiconductors and electronics to traditional sectors such as footwear, textiles and furniture.

Referring to this issue, the Prime Minister said: "We are experiencing a trade imbalance, but the rate of US exports to Vietnam has increased very high, up to 77%. Tomorrow I will witness major signings of major US corporations in Vietnam, with promising investment projects such as Exxon Mobil's worth 10 billion USD, then trade will be more balanced."

The Prime Minister also emphasized that investment projects will promote the advantages of the two countries, benefiting both sides. Vietnam exports to the US products that Americans like such as fish, shrimp, fruit, shoes, etc. Using the image of Nike shoes to talk about the profits of American investors in Vietnam, the Prime Minister said that with 138 million pairs of shoes exported each year, if a pair of shoes costs 100 USD, Vietnam only benefits 22 USD, while the US benefits 78 USD.

On the same day, during his visit to the US, the Prime Minister also attended a roundtable discussion on Vietnam-US investment cooperation, with the participation of more than 20 financial groups, investment funds and large enterprises from both sides. The Government leader expressed that this was a good opportunity to discuss the orientations and opportunities for investment cooperation between Vietnam and the US, especially investment in banking and finance, a field with great potential for development in Vietnam.

The Prime Minister will be accompanied by 80-90 domestic enterprises on his three-day visit to the US. Among them are many large enterprises such as PVN, FPT, VietJet and SHB. Today, the Prime Minister is expected to witness the signing of many important and valuable contracts between companies of the two countries.

The US is currently Vietnam’s third largest trading partner with a turnover of 50 billion USD in 2016, and a total registered capital of over 10.2 billion USD in investment projects. Many of the country’s leading corporations have been present in Vietnam very early and have achieved many successes.

According to VNE