HANOI (Reuters) -Vietnam expects to sign a “reciprocal trade agreement” with the United States soon, Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son said on Wednesday, as a new round of negotiations gets underway in Washington DC.
“Only trust can lead to cooperation, and only cooperation can lead to prosperity … and Vietnam always seeks to boost cooperation with the United States,” Son said at a U.S.-Vietnam business summit in Hanoi.
In October the two countries agreed to finalise a trade deal within weeks that would keep tariffs on imports of Vietnamese goods to the United States at 20%, but would exempt certain unspecified products.
Son at the summit called on U.S. businesses to support a visit to the United States by Vietnamese leader To Lam, and also to encourage Washington to recognize Vietnam as a market economy and lift its restrictions on the export of high-tech products.
Negotiators from Vietnam, led by Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien, are in Washington for a new round of trade deal negotiations scheduled for November 12-14, the ministry said on Tuesday night.
(Reporting by Khanh Vu and Francesco Guarascio; Editing by David Stanway)
