On the morning of May 5, at the 9th Session of the 15th National Assembly, Politburo member and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh reported on the socio-economic development situation and the state budget.
According to the head of the Government, since the beginning of the year, the world situation has had many new developments that are extremely complicated and unpredictable. In particular, the US's sudden announcement of a high-level countervailing tax policy on a large scale has a negative impact on global economic growth, seriously threatening the supply chain and international trade and investment flows.
Accordingly, on April 2, 2025, the US officially announced a 10% tariff policy to all countries and set a very high counterpart tariff ceiling (Vietnam is subject to a counterpart tax of 46%). On April 9, 2025, the US announced a plan to temporarily suspend countervailing tariffs for 90 days, except for China.
Immediately afterwards, General Secretary To Lam had a phone call and sent a letter to US President Donald Trump; appointing Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc as the General Secretary's special missionary to work with the US.
The Government Party Committee immediately reported to the Politburo and the Secretariat on the situation and proposed solutions. The Government Standing Committee and the Prime Minister held 10 meetings on negotiation options, issued many documents, and resolutely directed solutions to respond and support affected businesses and workers.
The Prime Minister established a Working Group on enhancing cooperation and proactively adapting to the adjustment of US economic and trade policies, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son; working with Vietnamese representative agencies abroad, associations and large enterprises exporting to the US.
After the US announced a delay in countervailing tax application and agreed to start negotiations with Vietnam, the Prime Minister established a Government negotiation Team led by the Minister of Industry and Trade and directed the development of a negotiation plan.
Vietnam has begun negotiations and is in the group of 6 countries prioritized by the US for negotiations (including the UK, India, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia) in more than 100 economies.
"Vietnam is one of the first countries that the US has agreed to negotiate. On May 7, the first negotiation session with the US will be held," the Prime Minister informed.
The Prime Minister also stated that the Government has been closely directing the negotiation delegation and ministries and agencies to monitor the situation, urgently complete the plan and be ready to negotiate with the US in the spirit of "harmonious benefits - shared risks".
In terms of economy, GDP growth in the first quarter of 2025 is estimated at 6.93%, the highest compared to the same period in the 2020-2025 period; many localities have double-digit growth rates.
The Government and the Prime Minister have drastically implemented the arrangement and streamlining of the apparatus of the Government and local governments, ensuring synchronization, unity, smoothness, efficiency, without interruption or affecting the operations of agencies, organizations, businesses and people.
The arrangement and streamlining of the Government apparatus has been completed with 14 ministries and 3 ministerial-level agencies (reducing 8 ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and agencies under the Government).
At the same time, quickly, drastically and effectively implement the arrangement and reorganization of administrative units at all levels and build a model of organizing local government at both levels.
