By Khanh Vu
HANOI (Reuters) -The United States has told Vietnam its trade deficit with the Southeast Asian country is “unsustainable” and a major concern, Vietnamese state media reported on Friday, as the two countries hold negotiations on tariffs.
Vietnam has been holding talks with the U.S., its largest export market, to persuade the U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to take a benign view of its huge trade surplus with America, after Trump in April announced a “reciprocal” tariff rate of 46% on Vietnamese goods, to take effect in July.
Robert Kaproth, a senior U.S. Treasury official, said in a Thursday meeting with Vietnam’s deputy finance minister Cao Anh Tuan the country must take measures to combat illegal transshipment and other kinds of trade fraud, Vietnam News Agency reported on Friday.
Tuan asked Kaproth to help facilitate Vietnam’s imports of American high-tech products, as part of their efforts to narrow the trade deficit, which exceeded $123 billion last year.
“Vietnam has demand for products that are strengths of the United States in the fields of energy, high technology, aviation, machinery and equipment, and agricultural products,” Tuan said, according to the report.
The U.S. Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
In a bid to reduce its trade surplus with Washington, Hanoi has recently taken several measures, including cutting tariffs on a wide range of goods destined for the U.S. and stepped up its crackdown on Chinese goods being shipped to the U.S. via its territory.
Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said the first round of tariff negotiations with the U.S. took place earlier this month, noting that the country is among the first the U.S. has agreed to hold tariff negotiations with.
Vietnam foreign ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said at a regular press conference on Thursday that “Vietnam is actively promoting a balanced and sustainable trade relation with the U.S.”
“Negotiations between Vietnam and the U.S. on its reciprocal tariffs on Vietnam’s exports are being implemented and specific information will be provided later,” she said.
(Reporting by Khanh VuEditing by Alasdair Pal)
