Vietnam is seeking to finalize a long-discussed trade agreement with the United States soon, Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son said on Wednesday, as officials from both sides began a new round of negotiations in Washington aimed at easing tensions over the widening U.S. trade deficit.
Speaking at a business conference in Hanoi, Son urged American companies to support efforts to “soon sign a fair and balanced trade agreement,” adding that such a deal would help strengthen the fast-growing economic partnership between the two countries.
In October, Hanoi and Washington agreed to conclude the trade pact within weeks. The proposed agreement would maintain the 20% U.S. tariff on Vietnamese imports introduced by President Donald Trump in August, while exempting a range of products yet to be specified.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Michael DeSombre, in a recorded address to the conference, said the deal should help “rebalance commercial flows” and reduce America’s deficit with Vietnam, currently the third-largest after China and Mexico.
According to Vietnamese government data, Vietnam recorded a $111 billion trade surplus with the U.S. in the first ten months of 2025, putting it on track for another record year.
Official U.S. trade figures remain unavailable due to the ongoing federal government shutdown.
A Vietnamese delegation led by Trade Minister Nguyen Hong Dien is in Washington this week to continue discussions with U.S. counterparts, focusing on which Vietnamese goods, such as coffee, could be exempted from tariffs, and how much market access Hanoi would grant U.S. products like cars and agricultural goods.
A source familiar with the talks said Vietnam hopes to finalize the agreement by December, depending on a forthcoming U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the legality of Trump’s tariff measures. The ruling is expected between late 2025 and mid-2026.
Officials in Hanoi also hope the eventual signing will be marked by a meeting between President Trump and Vietnam’s top leader, To Lam, a symbolic gesture that past attempts have failed to achieve.
Son also called on U.S. businesses to lobby Washington to recognize Vietnam as a market economy and to lift export restrictions on high-tech products such as advanced semiconductors.
DeSombre noted that Vietnam could play a growing role in global supply chains for critical minerals, citing the country’s substantial but underdeveloped reserves of rare earths and gallium.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
