Vietnam reaffirms trade talks, urges US to conclude trade investigation

Vietnam's foreign ministry said on Thursday that it remained committed to bringing trade negotiations with the ​United States to a conclusion, urging Washington to ‌wrap up its Section 301 investigation into the southeast Asian country.

The appeal came after a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Marco ​Rubio and Vietnam's Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung ​on the sidelines of an ASEAN summit in ⁠Manila, where the two sides discussed ways to ​strengthen ties and rebalance trade.

It follows more than a year ​of talks between Hanoi and its largest export market, with U.S. President Donald Trump's temporary 10% global tariff on goods shipped from Vietnam ​scheduled to expire on Friday.

Vietnam is facing three ​separate Trump administration probes targeting Hanoi for allegedly distorting trade through excess ‌capacity, ⁠intellectual property violations, and the use of goods produced by forced labour.

Vietnam called for the United States to conclude the Section 301 investigation with a decision that ​fully recognises Vietnam's ​efforts, the ⁠foreign ministry said in a statement.

Section 301 of US trade law is a provision ​that authorises investigations into alleged unfair trade ​practices.

Trung ⁠said Vietnam is willing to facilitate U.S. firms in expanding their investment and business activities in the country.

The US trade deficit ​with Vietnam reached $75.3 billion in ​the first half of this year, an annual increase of 21%, Vietnam's ​government data showed.


-Reuters