General Secretary To Lam talks on the phone with US President Trump

General Secretary To Lam had a phone call with President Donald Trump, saying he was ready to negotiate with the US to reduce import tax to 0% on goods imported from the US and suggested that the US apply a similar tax rate on goods imported from Vietnam.

Also participating in the phone call from the Party Central Committee Headquarters on the evening of April 4 were Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Chief of the Party Central Committee Office Le Hoai Trung, and Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc.

General Secretary To Lam highly appreciated the exchange, in which the two leaders affirmed their desire to continue strengthening bilateral cooperation, for the benefit of both countries and contributing to peace, stability and development in the region and the world. The two leaders also assessed that the bilateral relationship is developing well in all fields, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Regarding bilateral trade relations, the two leaders discussed measures to continue promoting trade. General Secretary To Lam affirmed that Vietnam is ready to negotiate with the US to reduce import tariffs to 0% for goods imported from the US, and at the same time proposed that the US apply similar tariffs to goods imported from Vietnam.

The General Secretary also said that Vietnam is ready to continue importing more goods from the US that Vietnam needs and encourages and creates favorable conditions for US companies to further increase investment in Vietnam.

The two leaders affirmed that they will discuss to soon sign a bilateral agreement to concretize the above commitments.

General Secretary To Lam invited President Donald Trump and his wife to visit Vietnam again soon. President Donald Trump accepted the invitation and expressed his wish to meet General Secretary To Lam again soon. President Donald Trump respectfully asked General Secretary To Lam to convey his warm regards to the leaders and people of Vietnam.

According to data from the Customs Department, in 2024, Vietnam will export goods worth 119.5 billion USD to the US and import 15.1 billion USD from this market.

On April 2, US President Donald Trump announced reciprocal import tariffs on more than 180 trading partners, ranging from 10-50%. Vietnam is among the highest-taxed countries, with a tax rate of 46%. The US announced that this tax is to “reciprocate” the import tax Vietnam is applying to goods from the US, which is “about 90%”, according to Washington’s calculation.

However, at a regular press conference on April 3, Mr. Truong Ba Tuan, Deputy Director of the Tax Policy Department (Ministry of Finance) affirmed that Vietnam’s tariff level applied to imported goods from the US is “much lower than the 90% figure calculated by the US”.

Mr. Tuan cited information from a report by the US trade agency that Vietnam’s average tax rate applied to its goods is only about 9.4%. Of which, most US goods exported to Vietnam are subject to a maximum tax of 15% or lower.

vnexpress.net