Vietnam says ‘positive progress’ in trade talks with US

HANOI: Vietnam said on Thursday “positive progress” has been made in trade talks with Washington, as it tries to slash US President Donald Trump’s threatened 46 per cent levy imposed on the country in his global tariff blitz.

The ministry of industry and trade however said both sides have “groups of issues for further discussion” in the coming rounds of talks, with the next scheduled for early June.The southeast Asian nation has the third-biggest trade surplus with the United States of any country after China and Mexico and is anxious to address the imbalance to head off the tariff threat.

At the end of three days of talks in Washington, both sides had identified matters of common concern “in the spirit of goodwill, frankness... and balance of interests”, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

The Vietnamese team sought help during its time in the United States from US tech and industry giants, including Lockheed Martin, SpaceX and Google. It also signed an agreement with US company Westinghouse Electric on nuclear power development.

President Trump’s real-estate group on Wednesday broke ground in Vietnam on a $1.5-billion luxury resort and golf course 40 kilometres (25 miles) southeast of the capital Hanoi. His son, Eric Trump, an executive vice president of The Trump Organization, and his wife Lara attended the event, as well as local partner the Kinhbac City Development Corporation (KBC).

He is also due to scout locations this week for a potential tower project in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s southern business hub. Trump visited the Vietnamese capital in 2019 for his abortive second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. He described Hanoi at the time as an “incredible city”, praising Vietnam for “the job they’ve done -- economic development”.