Hanoi, Vietnam – The United States and Vietnam met today under the U.S.-Vietnam Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).
The two sides welcomed the resumption of the TIFA Joint Council Meeting following the COVID-19 pandemic and reaffirmed the importance of working together to strengthen the bilateral economic relationship. The United States and Vietnam highlighted the recent elevation of U.S.-Vietnam relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific Sarah Ellerman and Vice Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai co-chaired the meeting. U.S. and Vietnamese officials discussed a range of bilateral economic priorities including on agriculture, labor, intellectual property, digital trade, services, ICT products, and the environment.
The United States and Vietnam signed the U.S.-Vietnam TIFA on June 21, 2007, and the bilateral economic relationship has grown significantly since then. U.S. goods and services trade with Vietnam totaled an estimated $142.1 billion in 2022, a 422% increase over 2012. Vietnam is the United States’ largest goods trading partner in Southeast Asia. Total goods trade reached $138.8 billion in 2022, of which U.S. exports were $13.8 billion and imports were $128.4 billion. The United States runs a consistent surplus in growing services trade with Vietnam, with that surplus reaching $1.6 billion amidst $3.3 billion of total services trade during 2022. U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam (stock) was $3.5 billion in 2022, a 26.8 percent increase from 2021.
