US high diplomat Rubio urges Vietnam to handle commerce imbalance

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 Overseas Minister Bui Thanh Son by which he urged Vietnam to handle commerce imbalances and likewise mentioned shared considerations about China.

Within the name, the primary between the 2 high 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 international locations agreed in 2023, a State Division assertion mentioned.

“The Secretary additionally mentioned regional considerations to incorporate China’s aggressive habits within the South China Sea,” it mentioned.

Whereas praising the 2 international locations’ financial cooperation, Rubio “inspired Vietnam to handle commerce imbalances,” it mentioned.

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 report fall of its forex towards the greenback.

Though Vietnam has turn out to be an necessary U.S. safety associate, the big commerce hole is seen by analysts as a significant danger for the export-reliant nation amid threats from Trump of across-the-board tariffs on U.S. imports.

The U.S. knowledge from this month confirmed a virtually 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 forex manipulators over their market interventions to weaken the worth of their currencies.

Vietnam, which counts the U.S. as its greatest market, is residence to large export-focused industrial operations of U.S. multinationals equivalent to Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Nike (NYSE:NKE) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC).