By Kanishka Singh and David Brunnstrom
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a name on Friday with Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister and International Minister Bui Thanh Son through which he urged Vietnam to handle commerce imbalances and in addition mentioned shared issues about China.
Within the name, the primary between the 2 prime diplomats underneath the brand new administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, the 2 hailed the thirtieth anniversary of U.S.-Vietnam relations and progress made underneath a Complete Strategic Partnership the nations agreed in 2023, a State Division assertion stated.
“The Secretary additionally mentioned regional issues to incorporate China’s aggressive habits within the South China Sea,” it stated.
Whereas praising the 2 nations’ financial cooperation, Rubio “inspired Vietnam to handle commerce imbalances,” it stated.
The U.S. commerce deficit with Vietnam exceeded $110 billion within the first 11 months of 2024, U.S. figures launched this month present, as exports from the Southeast Asian industrial hub grew amid a document fall of its foreign money towards the greenback.
Though Vietnam has change into an necessary U.S. safety companion, the big commerce hole is seen by analysts as a significant threat for the export-reliant nation amid threats from Trump of across-the-board tariffs on U.S. imports.
The U.S. information from this month confirmed an almost 18% rise within the U.S. deficit with Vietnam in contrast with the identical interval the earlier yr. It confirmed the Communist-run nation has the fourth highest industrial surplus with the US, topped solely by China, the European Union and Mexico.
Trump ended his first time period within the White Home with Treasury declarations of Vietnam and Switzerland as foreign money manipulators over their market interventions to weaken the worth of their currencies.
Vietnam, which counts the U.S. as its greatest market, is house to large export-focused industrial operations of U.S. multinationals equivalent to Apple (NASDAQ:), Google (NASDAQ:), Nike (NYSE:) and Intel (NASDAQ:).
