Vietnam to buy US defence and security products to address trade gap

Vietnam will buy more American goods, including defence and security products, and has asked for a 45-day delay in the imposition of US tariffs, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said in a statement issued late on Monday (Apr 7).

Hanoi will also seek faster deliveries of commercial planes that Vietnamese airlines have ordered from the US, Chinh said at a cabinet meeting late on Monday.

The Southeast Asian country, a major regional manufacturing base for many Western companies, last year had a trade surplus of more than US$123 billion with the US last year,

its largest export market. Chinh said Vietnam had asked the US to delay the 46 per cent tariff rate that US President Donald Trump announced last week to allow time for negotiations.

Vietnam was seeking to "negotiate with the US side for balanced and sustainable trade, in line with the interests of the two sides," the statement said.

The country's benchmark stock index has fallen nearly 14 per cent since Trump's announcement of the tariffs on Apr 2. The index fell 6.26 per cent to 1,135 in early trade on Tuesday.

Vietnam's government figures on Sunday also showed that its economy grew at a slightly slower pace in the first quarter.

Gross domestic product in Vietnam during the first quarter grew 6.93 per cent year-on-year, down slightly from the 7.55 per cent expansion in the final quarter of last year, Vietnam's General Statistics Office said on Sunday.

Despite the challenge presented by US levies, Chinh said a target of "at least 8 per cent" growth this year remains unchanged, the government's official news portal said.

To achieve its goal, Vietnam's Ministry of Finance has determined that the economy will need to grow between 8.2 per cent and 8.4 per cent in the remaining quarters, the government said.

On Friday, Trump and To Lam agreed to discuss a deal to remove tariffs. Both leaders said after a phone call that Trump described as "very productive".

In Monday's statement, Chinh said Vietnam would review issues such as its monetary policy, exchange rate, non-tariff barriers and ensuring the correct origin of goods.

Since an arms embargo was lifted in 2016, US defence exports to Vietnam have been largely limited to coastguard ships and trainer aircraft. Sources said last year there were talks on sales of Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules military transport planes to Hanoi.