Viet Nam, U.S. announce Joint Statement for Reciprocal, Fair and Balanced Trade Agreement
VGP - Viet Nam and the U.S. on October 26 agreed to announce a Joint Statement on the Framework for an Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair and Balanced Trade.
Below is the full text of the Joint Statement:
JOINT STATEMENT ON A UNITED STATES-VIET NAM FRAMEWORK FOR AN AGREEMENT ON RECIPROCAL, FAIR, AND BALANCED TRADE
The United States of America (the United States) and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam have agreed to a Framework for an Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair, and Balanced Trade to strengthen our bilateral economic relationship, which will provide both countries’ exporters unprecedented access to each other’s markets. The Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair, and Balanced Trade will build upon our longstanding economic relationship, including the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement signed in 2000 that entered into force in 2001.
Key terms of the Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair, and Balanced Trade between the United States and Viet Nam will include:
Viet Nam will provide preferential market access for substantially all U.S. industrial and agricultural exports to Viet Nam.
The United States will maintain at 20 percent the reciprocal tariffs, as set forth in Executive Order 14257 of April 2, 2025, as amended, on originating goods of Vietnam, and will also identify products from the list set out in Annex III to Executive Order 14346 of September 5, 2025, Potential Tariff Adjustments for Aligned Partners, to receive a zero percent reciprocal tariff rate.
The United States and Viet Nam will work constructively in an effort to address both countries’ interests in non-tariff barriers that affect bilateral trade in priority areas.
Viet Nam has agreed to address many such barriers including, for example, by accepting vehicles built to U.S. motor vehicle safety and emissions standards; addressing import licenses for U.S. medical devices; streamlining regulatory requirements and approvals for U.S. pharmaceutical products; fully implementing Viet Nam's obligations under certain international intellectual property treaties to which it is a Party; and addressing U.S. concerns with conformity assessment procedures.
The United States and Viet Nam have committed to address and prevent barriers to U.S. agricultural products in the Vietnamese market, including with regard to U.S. regulatory oversight and acceptance of currently agreed certificates issued by U.S. regulatory authorities.
The United States and Viet Nam will finalize commitments on digital trade, and services and investment
The United States and Vietnam will engage to address intellectual property, labor, environment, customs and trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, and any distortionary behaviors of state-owned enterprises.
The United States and Viet Nam are committed to strengthening cooperation towards our shared goals to enhance supply chain resilience, including addressing duty evasion and cooperating on export controls.
In addition, the United States and Viet Nam take note of recent commercial deals between U.S. and Vietnamese companies in the areas of agriculture, aerospace, and energy.
Vietnam Airlines has agreed to purchase 50 aircraft from Boeing which is worth over 8 billion USD.
Vietnamese companies have signed twenty memorandums of understanding with U.S. companies to purchase U.S. agricultural commodities, with a total estimated value of over 2.9 billion USD.
In the coming weeks, the United States and Viet Nam will work to finalize the Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair, and Balanced Trade, prepare the Agreement for signature, and undertake domestic formalities in advance of the Agreement entering into force./.
