By Khanh Vu and Francesco Guarascio
HANOI, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Vietnam and the US have nearly completed negotiations covering a trade deal, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Tuc said on Wednesday at an event in Hanoi, though US officials appeared more cautious.
Export-reliant Vietnam has been in talks for more than a year with the US, its main foreign market, to avoid punitive tariffs. Trump administration officials have repeatedly accused the country of being used as a transit point to lower duties on Chinese goods bound for the US.
Vietnam has sent the final text of the agreement to the US, Tuc said at a business forum in Hanoi.
“We expect the US to continue to create favorable conditions for Vietnamese goods to access the US market in a stable and sustainable manner,” Tuc said.
After the US’ global tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court in February, the Trump administration launched three investigations into Vietnam’s trade practices.
One covering alleged failures to prevent the use of goods made with forced labour ended with 12.5% tariffs on Vietnamese products, higher than most of its regional peers. The other two investigations covering industrial overcapacity and the protection of intellectual property rights are underway and could result in additional tariffs.
Tuc said Vietnam expects the US to make objective and balanced assessments in these investigations.
Top Vietnamese leader To Lam has been invited by the US to attend the G20 summit in Florida in December, Vietnamese state media reported, raising hopes that a deal could be sealed then.
US CAUTIOUS
David Fogel, the US assistant secretary of commerce, in a recorded message streamed at the event, said he was “hopeful” the two countries would continue to work together on a trade agreement.
He warned that the US’ deficit with Vietnam was the largest that the US has with any partner. Vietnam’s trade surplus with the US exceeded $163 billion in the January-to-August period, greater than the US’ bigger trading partners like Mexico and China, according to the latest US trade data.
Among options to balance trade flows, Fogel urged Vietnamese businesses to invest more in the US and noted the US could export “world-class super-intelligence hardware” to Vietnam. The country currently faces restrictions over its access to the US’ most advanced technologies.
Jennifer Wicks, the US ambassador to Vietnam, reiterated at the event that talks on a trade deal were ongoing.
She urged Vietnam to adapt its regulatory framework on data protection to attract investment and allow businesses to deploy new technologies efficiently.
US tech companies have repeatedly warned that Vietnam’s strict limits on cross-border data transfers discourage investment in the country.
Wicks also urged Vietnam to develop predictable policies and stable rules on pricing to favour foreign investment in its expanding energy sector.
Vietnam has been negotiating for years with potential foreign investors on prices that it would pay for electricity generated by power plants. It has also retroactively cut price subsidies for some investors in renewables.
(Reporting by Khanh Vu and Francesco Guarascio; Editing by David Stanway and Thomas Derpinghaus)
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