HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam should increase imports from the US, including products and raw materials for production, to reduce the gap in the bilateral trade balance, Barbara Weisel, an expert in international trade law and former assistant to the US Trade Representative has said. 

Việt Nam now ranks third among countries with the largest trade surplus with the US, after only China and Mexico. Strong export growth to the US is recorded through items such as wooden furniture, machinery, optical equipment, office machines, printers, hand tools and hydraulic pneumatics, footwear, rubber, and rubber products besides plastics and plastic products, iron and steel.

Weisel forecasts that the Trump 2.0 administration would step up bilateral negotiations to reduce the deficit, aiming for a trade balance with major partners. The new US government might adopt a more flexible strategy instead of increasing tariffs on some partners. Thus, the development of the Việt Nam-US cooperation still opens up new opportunities for businesses on both sides.

Vice President of the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association Diệp Thành Kiệt foresaw many unpredictable fluctuations in the country's exports of leather, footwear and handbags to the US in 2025. 

Up to 90 per cent of Việt Nam's leather, footwear, and handbags production output is used for exports and the US is the largest consumer of these products, accounting for about 40 per cent of the country's total export turnover. Therefore, any fluctuations in the world market, typically the US will impact the industry, Kiệt said. 

He added that the biggest concern of the leather, footwear and handbags industry was the possibility that the US would increase import taxes. Goods would become more expensive, reducing consumer demand. In addition, if the US imposed high tariffs on Chinese goods, Vietnamese businesses needed to recalculate the supply of raw materials from China.

Amid the new context, Kiệt petitioned the Government to consider promoting negotiations on a free trade agreement with the US, that would help facilitate bilateral cooperation between two business communities. 

Contract to leather, footwear, and handbags, Việt Nam's exports of wood and wooden-made products to the US would not face many risks under the President-elect Donald Trump administration, according to Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Hồ Chí Minh City (HAWA).

Nguyễn Hoài Bảo, Vice President and General Secretary of HAWA said the US makes up for 55 per cent of Việt Nam's total export turnover of wooden furniture and interior products. At the same time, it is also one of the major suppliers of raw wood materials to Việt Nam.

Bảo said even if the US imposed import taxes, Vietnamese wooden furniture would have a lower tax rate than that of other countries. 

However, he warned that the US inflation and President-elect Trump's tough policies would cause the country's construction and real estate sectors to stagnate, and furniture consumption would be slower.

He suggested that Vietnamese businesses should step up cooperation with logistics networks in the US to meet fast delivery requirements and increase competitiveness, which would help the firms better sell their products through e-commerce bourses. — VNS