Vietnam has demonstrated a spirit of calmness, courage, resilience, proactive, timely, flexible, appropriate and effective response.
Since the Trump administration announced reciprocal tariffs on more than 180 trading partners around the world in the early morning of April 3, Vietnam has demonstrated a calm, courageous, resilient spirit, proactive, timely, flexible, appropriate and effective response. Notably, on the evening of April 4, General Secretary To Lam had a very successful phone call with US President Donald Trump.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also chaired two consecutive meetings of the Government Standing Committee with ministries and sectors to assess the situation and discuss immediate and long-term solutions. According to economic and diplomatic experts, in the coming time, Vietnam needs to continue to address the concerns of the US side through tariff and non-tariff measures.
Mr. Nguyen Dinh Luong was the head of the delegation negotiating the Vietnam-US Trade Agreement in 2000, one of the agreements that helped open the Vietnamese economy to the world. It took 5 years of preparation for the Agreement to be signed, because we needed to carefully understand the requirements from our partners. More than 20 years have passed, but this experience is still true in the current context.
Mr. Nguyen Dinh Luong – Head of the Negotiation Delegation of the Vietnam – US Trade Agreement (2000) commented: “The purpose is to reduce the trade deficit, which Vietnam can easily solve. It is both to reduce the trade deficit and to prevent goods from other countries from using the title Made in Vietnam to enter the US.”
The Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi (Amcham) have sent a letter to the US Secretary of Commerce, calling on the Trump Administration to suspend the imposition of reciprocal tariffs to avoid disruptions to business operations. The US business community also highly appreciated the very flexible and timely responses of General Secretary To Lam and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in recent days. In particular, the affirmation of the head of our Party: Vietnam is ready to negotiate with the US side to reduce import tariffs to 0 for goods imported from the US.
Mr. Mark Gillni – Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AmCham Vietnam) commented: “Tax reduction is the most timely, simple and effective policy in the current context. I think Vietnam’s recent policies show a very goodwill and timely approach. I think Vietnam has been very smart and patient in not responding and trying to analyze the moves from the US side.”
Tariffs are part of the nearly 400-page Trade Barriers report that the United States has published. However, there are still 13 other types of barriers that the United States has found in its partners. For Vietnam alone, the United States has devoted 8 pages to analyzing obstacles to the market. These are issues that Vietnam needs to address in the coming time.
Dr. Can Van Luc – Member of the National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council said: “It is necessary to promptly and reasonably resolve the requests that the US side has been making regarding opening up investment, energy, aviation, payment, and some other services such as telecommunications, banking and finance…”.
In the coming time, through the policy dialogue mechanism of the Vietnam – US Trade and Investment Council (TIFA), the Ministry of Industry and Trade will coordinate with relevant ministries and branches to maintain close exchanges with US partners, handle existing issues in bilateral economic and trade relations, and study appropriate economic and trade cooperation frameworks in the new situation.
At yesterday’s Government Standing Committee meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested the Ministry of Finance to continue to immediately review taxes and expand policies in Decree 73 in line with the high-level agreement between General Secretary To Lam and US President Donald Trump during their phone call on April 4. The Ministry of Industry and Trade will preside over the review to increase imports from the US of goods that Vietnam has demand for and is beneficial to import. Promote negotiations to improve the Vietnam – US Bilateral Trade Agreement.