Trump’s top diplomat presses Vietnam on trade

Marco Rubio notes ‘trade imbalances’ that have led to copy10-billion US deficit

New US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a call on Friday with Vietnam’s foreign minister, in which he urged Hanoi to address “trade imbalances” and also discussed shared concerns about China.

In the call, Rubio and Bui Thanh Son hailed the 30th anniversary of US-Vietnam relations and progress made under a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership that the countries agreed on in 2023, a State Department statement said.

“The Secretary also discussed regional concerns to include China’s aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea,” it said.

While praising the two countries’ economic cooperation, Rubio “encouraged Vietnam to address trade imbalances”, it said.

The US trade deficit with Vietnam exceeded copy10 billion in the first 11 months of 2024, US figures show, as exports from the Southeast Asian industrial hub grew amid a record fall of its currency against the dollar.

Although Vietnam has become an important US security partner, the large trade gap is seen by analysts as a major risk for the export-reliant country amid threats from President Donald Trump of across-the-board tariffs on US imports.

The US data showed a nearly 18% rise in its trade deficit with Vietnam compared with the same period the previous year. It confirmed the Communist-run country has the fourth highest commercial surplus with the United States, topped only by China, the European Union and Mexico.

Trump ended his first term in the White House with Treasury declarations of Vietnam and Switzerland as currency manipulators for their market interventions to weaken the value of their currencies.

Vietnam, which counts the United States as its biggest market, is home to big export-focused industrial operations of US multinationals including Apple, Google, Nike and Intel. 

Reuters – January 25, 2025