Since the end of April 2025, Vietnam and the United States have held many counter- trade negotiations at both the technical and ministerial levels. The Vietnamese Government negotiation delegation led by Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien includes leaders and officials of ministries and agencies: Industry and Trade, Foreign Affairs, Public Security, Finance, Justice, Agriculture and Environment, Science and Technology, Home Affairs, Construction, Health, State Bank and Embassy of Vietnam in the United States.
Many direct and online negotiations took place between Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien, Head of the US Trade Representative Agency (USTR) Jamieson Greer and US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
During the negotiations, Vietnam and the United States focused on discussing and achieving many advances in issues such as tariffs, rules of origin, customs, agriculture, non-tax measures, digital trade, services and investment, intellectual property, sustainable development, supply chains, trade cooperation, etc.
In the early morning of August 1, 2025 (Vietnam time), the White House published President Donald Trump's decree on adjusting the counterpart tax rate, accordingly the United States decided to adjust the counterpart tax rate for 69 countries and territories listed in Appendix I. According to this Appendix, the counterpart tax rate for Vietnam decreased from 46% to 20%.
In the coming time, the two sides will continue to discuss and implement further work towards completing the agreement on counter- trade on the principle of openness, construction, equality, respect for independence, self-reliance, political institutions, mutual benefit and consider each other's level of development. The two sides will also strive to promote stable economic, trade and investment relations, harmonizing benefits, commensurate with the Vietnam - US Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
According to data from the US Customs, in 2024, two-way trade between Vietnam and the US will reach 149.7 billion USD. Of which, Vietnam exports 136.6 billion USD and imports 13.1 billion USD. Vietnam's trade surplus with the United States is 123.5 billion USD, ranking 3rd among countries with the largest trade surplus with the United States (after China and Mexico).
In the first 5 months of 2025, the two-way trade exchange between Vietnam and the US reached 77.4 billion USD, up 36.5% over the same period in 2024, of which Vietnam exported 71.7 billion USD (up 37.3% over the same period in 2024) and imported 5.7 billion USD (up 30.7% over the same period in 2024).
Vietnam's trade surplus with the United States is 64.8 billion USD (up 29% over the same period in 2024), ranking 4th among countries with the largest trade surplus with the United States (after China, Mexico and Iceland).
