Việt Nam's trade activities with the Americas have been boosted thanks to effective exploitation of free trade agreements (FTAs).

The director of the Department of the Americas Market, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Tạ Hoàng Linh, outlined the positive results while addressing a conference of Việt Nam's trade counsellors and heads of the trade offices in American countries.

The conference was organised by Việt Nam's Ministry of Industry and Trade on November 18 (local time) in Rio de Janeiro City, Brazil, connecting to the ministry's online meeting room in Hà Nội.

To date Việt Nam has two multilateral and bilateral FTAs ​​with the Americas, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) (of which Canada, Mexico, Peru and Chile are members) and the Vietnam - Chile Free Trade Agreement (Vietnam-Chile FTA).

In addition to these FTAs, Vietnam has signed a number of trade agreements with partners in the Americas region such as the Vietnam - United States Bilateral Trade Agreement and the Vietnam - Cuba Trade Agreement.

The above FTAs ​​and cooperation agreements have made an important contribution to promoting trade relations between Việt Nam and countries in the Americas.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in the first ten months of 2024, Việt Nam's trade value with the Americas region reached more than US$136.5 billion, an increase of 20.7 per cent over the same period in 2023.

Of which, the exports reached more than $114.9 billion, an increase of 22.3 per cent, while the imports from the Americas reached $21.6 billion, an increase of 12.6 per cent over the same period in 2023. The trade surplus reached $93.3 billion.

During the first ten months, the US, CPTPP's member countries and the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) continued to be the largest importers of Vietnamese goods, reaching $98.7 billion (up 24.6 per cent); $11.3 billion (up 15.4 per cent) and $2.8 billion (down 9.3 per cent) respectively.

Meanwhile, the US, Mercosur and CPTPP member countries continued to be important partners with import turnover from those markets reaching $12.2 billion (up 7.9 per cent), $7.4 billion (up 20.9 per cent) and $1.8 billion (up 15.3 per cent) respectively.

This year, Việt Nam's trade growth rate with the Americas is estimated to also increase faster than the national average.

Việt Nam's trade with the Americas had achieved impressive growth results recently, Linh said. However, there were still many uncertain factors in the world, which would affect the trade growth momentum.

In addition, Việt Nam's exports to the Americas still had some limitations, so they were especially sensitive to fluctuations in the world economy.

Linh also pointed out that Việt Nam had a very strong trade surplus with the American markets ($91.3 billion in 2023), but this result had mainly come from the trade activities with the US ($83.2 billion).

Việt Nam recorded large trade surplus with some other important markets, such as Brazil ($2.2 billion) and Argentina ($1.49 billion).

The structure of export items to the Americas mainly focused on items produced by foreign-invested enterprises, such as phones, electronic components, computers, means of transport and spare parts, textiles and footwear. There was no diversity in the export structure, especially in the case of small and medium-sized markets.

Firms had focused on promoting exports to large markets such as the US, Canada, Mexico and Brazil, while lacking information about the remaining potential markets such as Peru, Colombia or Central American countries.

According to Linh, this will lead to domestic enterprises often becoming passive when facing difficulties in key markets and difficulty in moving the exports to other markets.

Therefore, in addition to industrial products, the Ministry of Industry and Trade recommends that in the future, they give higher priority to agricultural products, processed foods, seafood and products made by Vietnamese enterprises.

In trade promotion work, Việt Nam's trade offices in the Americas will prioritise finding new markets and niche markets for Vietnamese goods in this region.

For markets in the Americas where Vietnam has had a large trade deficit for many years, the ministry will propose appropriate solutions to gradually increase exports and reasonably control imports, towards trade balance. — VNS