The General Department of Customs (GDC) reported that Vietnam exported $53.09 billion worth of goods to the US in the first seven months 2023, higher than any other market.

The US has been the No 1 export market for Vietnam for the last two decades. The two-way trade turnover reached $123.9 billion in 2022, up 11 percent over 2021. Of this, Vietnam’s export turnover to the US was $109.4 billion, up 13.6 percent, which accounted for 29.5 percent of Vietnam’s total export turnover.

Since 2012, Vietnam’s export turnover to the US always amounts to 30 percent of Vietnam’s total export turnover, higher than the 17.5 percent in 2011.

The increased exports to the US are attributed to the implementation of the Vietnam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA). The US has quickly become the biggest consumer of Vietnam’s exports, mostly garments, footwear, wooden furniture, seafood and farm produce, soon after the BTA took effect.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has also increased imports from the US, not only machines for production, but farm produce as well.

According to GDC, in 2022, Vietnam imported 1.84 million tons of soybeans in total, worth $1.28 billion, of which $408 million, or 32 percent, was from the US, becoming the second largest exporter to Vietnam, after Brazil.

In 2022, Vietnam imported $128.19 million worth of wheat from the US, up 37.9 percent in quantity, 100.9 percent in turnover and 45.6 percent in prices compared with 2021, which accounted for 7 percent of total import volume and 8.5 percent in total import value.

Animal feed imports from the US in 2022 reached $772.8 million, accounting for 13.8 percent of total import turnover.

The US is the second largest consumer of vegetables and fruits with import turnover reaching $356.3 million, up 15.6 percent over the previous year.

The US is on the list of markets from which Vietnam imports computers and electronic components with Vietnam’s import turnover of $3.3 billion last year. Vietnam also spent $1 billion to import machines and equipment from the country.

However, the US is one of the countries which often uses trade remedies to protect its domestic market.

As of the end of December 2022, the US had investigated 52 trade remedy cases against imports from Vietnam, which accounted for 23 percent of overseas investigation cases against Vietnam’s products.

In 2022, the US initiated an investigation of 12 cases, mostly against trade remedy tax obligation avoidance (11 cases). The investigated products included steel, solar panels, wooden wardrobes and steel wire. The country also reviewed several trade remedy measures applied before, including the administration review on anti-subsidy duties on tires, and anti-dumping duties against catfish.

VN wants to attract American ‘eagles’

According to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA), American businesses have registered 1,216 investment projects in Vietnam as of the end of 2022, with total capital of $11.4 billion. The US ranks 11th among the biggest investors in Vietnam.

Analysts say they can see opportunities for Vietnam to attract investment from large US corporations, or ‘eagles’, as Vietnamese call big investors.

Nguyen Thang Vuong from the European-American Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) said that the relocation of global supply chains has been occurring recently.

To date, Apple has completed relocation of 11 audio device manufacturing factories to Vietnam, while Intel has begun the second phase of a project on a chip testing factory in HCM City, capitalized at $4 billion.

A number of other US corporations such as Boeing, Google and Walmart have also stated they are expanding their network of suppliers and developing production bases in Vietnam after a period of learning about the business environment here.

Manh Ha