Viet Nam is now close to the signing of a trade deal with the United States, Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son said on November 12, 2025. The two sides have just launched a new round of negotiations in Washington to finalize the deal in the coming weeks, in which the US is likely to maintain import tariffs on Vietnamese goods but will exempt some specific items. Viet Nam’s goal is to reach a fair deal, balancing bilateral trade, especially when Viet Nam is reporting a trade surplus with the US of up to 111 billion USD in the first 10 months of 2025. Trade and supply chains in high-tech and mineral materials sectors are also mentioned by both sides as part of long-term cooperation.

In the context of trade relations between Viet Nam and the US facing turning points, especially after the two countries issued a Joint Statement on the Framework for a Reciprocal, Fair and Balanced Trade Agreement on the occasion of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and President Donald Trump attending the 47th ASEAN Summit from October 26 to 28, 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son said that the Vietnamese Government and the US side are aiming to sign a bilateral trade agreement in the coming weeks. Negotiations on this agreement are taking place in Washington. The Vietnamese delegation participating in the negotiations is led by Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien. According to shared information, the Viet Nam - US Bilateral Trade Agreement will likely maintain the import tax rate that the US applies to Vietnamese goods, but there will be an "exemption list" for some specific products. The goal for both sides is a “fair and balanced agreement” that would narrow the US’s huge trade deficit with Vietnam – which is $111 billion in the first 10 months of 2025, according to the statistics of Viet Nam.

In his speech in Hanoi earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son called on the US business community to engage more in the negotiations to speed up the signing. For its part, the US stressed that the agreement should help “balance the flow of trade” between the two countries. A source involved in the negotiations said Vietnam aims to complete the signing after the US Supreme Court decides on the legality of current tariffs, and prioritises this goal before this year-end.

In addition to tariffs, cooperation in the global supply chain was also mentioned. Viet Nam is considered a strategic destination in the supply chains of important minerals and raw materials (such as rare earths and gallium), while the United States wants to expand exports to Viet Nam of high-tech products and agricultural products. Agreement between the two sides on these areas will play a key role in creating a new bilateral trade “package”, helping Viet Nam to be more proactive in positioning itself in the global economic system.

The signing of a bilateral trade agreement between the two countries is expected to not only have implications for tariffs, but also be an important driving force to promote Viet Nam to shift its growth model based on exports, upgrade value in the supply chain and expand the high-tech market. According to the assessment of the Government and businesses of both sides, if everything goes smoothly, this could be a big step forward in economic relations between Viet Nam and the United States./.

Source: Compiled by the Multilateral Trade Policy Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade of Viet Nam