Vietnam Says It Wants to Buy More US Exports as Officials Discuss Trade
U.S. and Vietnamese officials met May 7 in Vietnam to discuss boosting trade between the two countries and possibly beginning negotiations on a new trade agreement, according to an unofficial translation of a Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade notice. Vietnamese Trade Minister Nguyen Hong Dien told Marc Knapper, the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, that the two nations should “promptly remove difficulties and obstacles” and “create favorable conditions for businesses in cooperation projects, as well as the purchase and sale of essential products.”
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The meeting came the same day that major Vietnamese companies asked the government to help them buy more American goods to meet domestic demand. The companies -- including Vietnam Airlines, auto parts maker Thaco Industries and telecommunications company Viettel -- have imported “billions of dollars” worth of U.S. aircraft, machinery, semiconductors and raw materials and said they plan to buy more under purchase agreements signed for 2025, according to the ministry.
“Vietnam currently has a need to purchase goods, equipment and services from the United States in large quantities, with high and stable value,” the ministry said. Both countries “need to urgently review and promptly remove difficulties and obstacles, creating favorable conditions for businesses in buying and selling essential products, supplementing each other's demand for goods.”
The Vietnamese companies said “they will increase meetings and work with U.S. partners” now through June “to promote contracts to realize signed agreements and memorandums of understanding.”