By Phuong Nguyen AND khanh vu
HANOI – Vietnam on Thursday hailed as a breakthrough a long-awaited trade deal with the United States and said its negotiators were coordinating with US counterparts to formalise terms with Washington.
Details on the deal announced by US President Donald Trump were scant, but Washington would place a lower-than-promised 20 percent tariff on many Vietnamese exports and a 40 percent levy on transshipments through Vietnam from third countries.
The agreement is the culmination of a months-long effort and a raft of concessions from regional manufacturing powerhouse Vietnam to renegotiate a reduction in US tariffs that were initially set at 46 percent, triggering alarm in the Communist Party-ruled nation.
The announcement followed a phone conversation between Trump and Vietnamese President To Lam on Wednesday.
“This is an important negotiation result, creating hope and expectations for businesses,” Vietnam’s Finance Minister Nguyen Van Thang told a cabinet meeting on Thursday, adding Vietnam would continue to boost exports and expand “harmonious and sustainable” trade relations with other countries.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said negotiators were finalising the terms with US counterparts.
“The Party’s General Secretary To Lam highly values President Donald Trump’s attention to Vietnam,” Hang added.
The United States is Vietnam’s largest export market and the two countries’ growing economic, diplomatic and military ties are a hedge against Washington’s biggest strategic rival, China.
Following US threats of the punitive tariffs, Vietnam has been cracking down on some imports from China, which Washington has said have for long been illegally rerouted through Vietnam to the United States to avoid higher duties, with no or insufficient value added to justify «Made in Vietnam» labels.
Details on the deal between the two countries were yet to be shared, with no clarity on Thursday on rules of origin and what would constitute locally manufactured products and what would be considered transhipment.
