Vietnam and the United States are close to finalizing their reciprocal trade and tariff agreement, following positive negotiations between the country’s top leader To Lam and U.S. officials this week.
To Lam, who serves as president and chief of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), met yesterday with U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer in New York, where he is scheduled to attend the 81st Session of the U.N. General Assembly.
According to a state media report, Greer yesterday hailed the “substantial progress” in the trade talks, adding that negotiators from both sides were “very close to reaching the final outcome.”
In turn, Lam expressed his desire “to work with President Donald Trump’s administration to continue advancing bilateral relations in a stable, substantive, effective, and sustainable manner,” the report stated. Lam said that Vietnam has in recent years “made efforts to substantively promote cooperation and purchase goods from the U.S. in order to boost bilateral trade in a more balanced direction.” He also “called on the U.S. to take a comprehensive approach to outstanding trade issues,” including a number of investigations that Washington has initiated under Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974.
Vietnam is currently the subject of a number of Section 301 investigations. It was among 60 nations that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) threatened in June with tariffs of 10-12.5 percent due to their alleged failures to take action on forced labor. It is also the subject of separate Section 301 probes into alleged excess manufacturing capacity and intellectual property rights.
These investigations have been interpreted as a way of rescuing President Trump’s protectionist trade policy after the U.S. Supreme Court in February struck down the sweeping global tariffs that his administration imposed on allies and adversaries alike last year.
In Vietnam’s case, the investigations have slowed down the trade negotiations that were initiated shortly after President Trump’s “liberation day” tariff announcement in April 2025, when Vietnam was hit with a 46 percent tariff. The two nations signed a framework for a trade agreement in October that lowered the tariff rate by 20 percent, but despite months of negotiations, they have yet to reach a final agreement.
The talks have snagged on U.S. concerns about transshipment – the alleged routing of Chinese goods through Vietnam to avoid U.S. tariffs – and market access for American companies. The Trump administration is also concerned about Vietnam’s yawning trade surplus with the United States, which, despite the imposition of last year’s tariffs, continues to grow. According to the USTR, the U.S. goods trade deficit with Vietnam rose to $178.2 billion in 2025, a 44.3 percent increase over 2024. It remains the third-largest of any country after China and Mexico.
The outstanding trade talks have been a subject of persistent, if minor, friction in the U.S.-Vietnam relationship, and the conclusion of a final reciprocal trade agreement would no doubt deliver a positive fillip for both sides and allow them to capitalize on the opportunities created by the establishment of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2023.
In a statement issued today, the Vietnamese government argued that “a trade agreement would provide a stable and long-term framework for economic, trade and investment ties between the two countries.”
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