US-Vietnam trade likely to hit $100 bn in 2021

The first eight months of this year saw bilateral trade gross $73 billion, said Phong.

Despite the global supply disruption caused by COVID-19, many US businesses have stepped up negotiations to invest in Vietnam’s manufacturing and processing, clean energy, aviation, healthcare, pharmaceuticals among other areas, according to a report in a Vietnamese newspaper.

Vietnam is the 10th largest trading partner of the United States, with its exports increasing by 230 per cent over the past five years. Meanwhile, the United States is the largest trading partner of Vietnam, with its exports also soaring by more than 175 per cent in the said period.

However, experts at the forum warned that the United States is tending to increase protection through new regulations and standards on food safety, product origin and quality, barring Vietnamese exports. In addition, most of Vietnamese exports to the United States are raw items.

The experts suggested that businesses increase deep processing and meet requirements on origin of production materials, to avoid trade defense lawsuits.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)