HANOI- Vietnam’s exports rose 19.8 percent in April from a year earlier to $37.45 billion, government data showed on Tuesday, ahead of the start of trade talks with Washington later this week.
Imports rose 22.9 percent in April from a year earlier to $36.87 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $580 million, the National Statistics Office said in a report.
The Southeast Asian economy, which is heavily reliant on exports for growth, is facing a 46 percent US tariff if a reduction cannot be negotiated before a US moratorium expires in July.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said on Monday the first round of tariff negotiations with the US, Vietnam’s largest export market, will begin on Wednesday.
The NSO said exports to the US in the first four months of 2025 totalled $43.4 billion, or 30.9 percent of total exports, while imports from China were $53.2 billion, or 39 percent of total imports.
Industrial production rose 8.9 percent in April from a year earlier, while consumer prices rose 3.12 percent, the NSO said.
Vietnam is targeting gross domestic product growth of at least 8 percent this year, faster than an expansion of 7.09 percent last year, and Chinh on Monday said the country would stick to that target despite the looming tariffs.
For the first four months of this year, exports rose 13 percent from a year earlier to $140.34 billion, while imports were up 18.6 percent to $136.55 billion, according to the NSO.
Vietnam’s economic growth slowed in the first quarter of the year, ahead of challenges the export-reliant economy will face in coming months from hefty US trade tariffs. The Southeast Asian country’s gross domestic product rose 6.93 percent in the first three months from the same period last year, slowing from 7.55 percent in the quarter ending in December, the National Statistics Office said in a report.
