Vietnam wants to rebalance its trade balance with the US

On Monday evening Hanoi announced its intention to buy more American products, including from the defense and security sectors, in a bid to reduce its trade surplus with the United States. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also called for a 45-day delay before the tariffs announced by Washington take effect.

At a cabinet meeting on Monday, Chinh said that Vietnam would also seek to accelerate the delivery of airliners ordered by its airlines from US manufacturers.

In 2024, Vietnam, an important manufacturing center for many Western companies, recorded a trade surplus of over $123bn with the United States, its main export market.

Pham Minh Chinh explained that his government wants to obtain a delay before the application of the 46% tariff announced last week by President Donald Trump, in order to make room for negotiations. According to the statement, this aims to achieve "balanced and sustainable trade in line with the interests of both parties".

On Monday, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro expressed deep concern about Vietnamese trade practices, pointing in particular to transshipment of goods from China, dumping on seafood and other goods, and infringements of intellectual property. "They're stealing intellectual property," he said on CNBC, adding that Vietnam registered the highest number of complaints, just behind China, with the Commerce Department.

In response, Pham Minh Chinh assured that his government would examine several aspects, including monetary policy, the exchange rate, non-tariff barriers and verification of product origin, in order to address the concerns raised by Washington.

On Tuesday, the day after a meeting of the unit in charge of tariff issues, the Vietnamese authorities also announced that they were considering modifications to their bilateral trade agreement with the United States, including the addition of provisions on taxation and intellectual property.

Since the announcement of the US tariffs on April 2, the Vietnamese stock market's benchmark index has plummeted by almost 14%, losing a further 6.26% on Tuesday morning to fall to 1,135 points.

Last Friday, Donald Trump and Vietnamese President To Lam spoke by phone and agreed to begin talks on a deal to remove the tariffs. Trump described the exchange as "very productive".

Since the lifting of the arms embargo in 2016, US defense exports to Vietnam have been limited mainly to coastguard vessels and trainer aircraft. Last year, sources reported discussions around the sale of Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft to Hanoi.