Courage and intelligence are a solid support for people and businesses in difficult times.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a meeting of the Government Standing Committee with relevant ministries, branches, agencies and units.

On the afternoon of April 5, at the Government Headquarters, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a meeting of the Government Standing Committee with relevant ministries, branches, agencies and units to continue assessing the situation and discuss immediate and long-term solutions after the United States announced reciprocal tariffs on goods from many countries, including Vietnam.

Also attending were Deputy Prime Ministers, representatives of ministries, branches, central agencies and relevant units.

After listening to reports from ministries, branches, agencies, and units and concluding the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that after the United States imposed reciprocal tariffs on Vietnam, we remained calm, demonstrated resilience, and made efforts to overcome difficulties.

According to the Prime Minister, throughout the country's history, we have continuously encountered great difficulties and challenges. This term has also seen continuous objective shocks from the outside (Covid-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine conflict, supply chain disruptions...).

However, these things increase courage and confidence to overcome difficulties, turn difficulties and challenges into opportunities to rise up and surpass one's own limits.

The Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam's policy responses so far have been basically appropriate; the Government has promptly reported to the Politburo on this issue, proposing solutions to respond to the situation, which the Politburo basically agreed with. Accordingly, Vietnam has basically resolved the issues of concern to the United States, especially proactively reducing tariffs on a number of goods through Decree 73/2025/ND-CP; this shows that we have responded flexibly, promptly, and appropriately to the external situation; this reassures the people; in these difficult times, we need the fulcrum of national unity, the wise leadership of the Party, the management of the Government, ministries, branches, and relevant agencies.

The Prime Minister stated that the Vietnam-US relationship is very special, the trade relationship between the two countries is the largest in ASEAN, the trade relationship between Vietnam and the US is among the top in the world, this is beneficial for Vietnam and the US economy and consumers. The goods in the trade relationship between the two countries are complementary and supportive of each other, not competitive and mutually exclusive; this relationship brings benefits to both sides.

Thoroughly implement the goal of harmonizing benefits and sharing risks in relations with countries involved in investment, trade, and economics, including the United States. The Prime Minister affirmed that the planned imposition of reciprocal tariffs by the United States will greatly affect Vietnam's exports, affect other markets of Vietnam such as China, Japan, Korea, EU, ASEAN, and at the same time affect American consumers.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh gave his directive speech.

The Prime Minister requested that we must grasp the situation firmly, maintain our mettle, be clear-headed, creative, clever, and flexible in management and administration, and be steadfast and persistent in basic principles such as protecting independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; protecting an independent, autonomous, proactive economy; actively integrating deeply, practically, and effectively into the international economy; approaching and handling problems in a way that is both immediate and long-term; both direct and indirect; both general and specific; both related to key issues and to broader issues; both non-tariff and tariff issues; and having an overall balance in foreign economic relations with Vietnam.

Carry out political, diplomatic, economic, investment and trade measures; win over domestic and foreign enterprises, US enterprises and FDI enterprises in Vietnam; compromise, negotiate, make concessions and fight in accordance with the situation. Under the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien carefully studied US policies and collected additional necessary documents.

The Prime Minister emphasized that the strategic goal is to stabilize the country and the region, contributing to peace, cooperation and development of the country; stability for development, development for stability, this is both a goal and a viewpoint; people are free, prosperous, happy, free to do business; must strive to achieve the growth target of at least 8% or more in 2025 and double-digit growth in the coming years.

Regarding specific solutions, the Prime Minister requested the Government, ministries, branches and localities to thoroughly grasp and implement the Resolutions and Conclusions of the Politburo related to the world situation and international integration, especially Resolution 59-NQ/TW, and thoroughly grasp the guiding viewpoints in the article "Striving forward in international integration" by General Secretary To Lam recently.

The Prime Minister noted that it is necessary to turn difficulties and challenges into opportunities, the more pressure there is, the more motivation there is to overcome difficulties and rise up; find initiatives to balance trade between the two countries, serving the interests of both countries; seek more goods that Vietnam needs to increase imports from the United States; highlight Vietnam's efforts to resolve specific US investment projects in Vietnam; continue to address the concerns of the US side in the spirit of mutual benefit.

The Ministry of Finance should immediately review the tax groups that we aim to implement according to the agreement in the phone call between General Secretary To Lam and US President Donald Trump on the evening of April 4 and have implementation plans; continue to expand the scope of tax reduction in the spirit of Decree 73/2025/ND-CP to approach this high-level agreement.

According to the Prime Minister, the solution is to have a list of agreements between the two sides; ensuring balance, rights and legitimate interests of both sides, balance with other countries, and not affect international commitments. Ministries, sectors, corporations, and enterprises should urgently review and compile a list of goods that can be imported from the United States.

The Prime Minister also stated that in order to serve the negotiations with the United States, there needs to be a specific scenario, plan, and project; close coordination between the negotiating delegation and the working group in the country...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Industry and Trade continue to communicate in various ways to request the US side to postpone the application of reciprocal tariffs on Vietnam while awaiting negotiations. The negotiation process must take into account other relations, especially the Most Favored Nation (MFN) status of the World Trade Organization (WTO), to avoid complicating the situation; must be tactful and flexible.

Effectively implement a group of solutions on taxes, fees, charges, and VAT to support businesses, encourage domestic production, business, and consumption; harmoniously combine monetary policy with fiscal policy; request the Ministry of Finance to focus on promoting digitalization in tax collection, actively collect taxes using invoices generated by cash registers; resolutely handle criminal cases of intentional tax evasion, hoarding, and price gouging; effectively control the origin of goods, brands, copyright issues, and intellectual property.

Regarding long-term solutions, it is necessary to restructure the economy towards a fast, sustainable, green, digital, creative economy, knowledge economy, and circular economy. Restructure the market, products, and supply chains towards more diversification, not depending on one market; exploit potential markets such as the Middle East, Central Asia, etc.

We must affirm that this is also an opportunity for the country and businesses to rise up; the more difficult it is, the more effort, innovation, breakthrough, development; restructuring the economy. The problem is to have timely support solutions for people and businesses in difficult times. The Ministry of Finance must also have a plan to prepare to support businesses in difficult situations.

The Prime Minister noted the need to promote negotiations to upgrade the Vietnam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA). Regarding communications, it is necessary to closely follow the Resolutions and Conclusions of the Politburo in a timely, appropriate and effective manner to strengthen the trust of the people and businesses, without causing tension or confrontation.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism coordinates with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to develop a plan to promote this issue as well as other areas.

Press agencies develop plans and allocate appropriate propaganda time to create momentum and strength for the country and people; objectively evaluate the country's achievements, the efforts of the Government, ministries, branches, localities, and the entire political system to thereby create trust among the people, businesses, and investors. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs meets with partners to exchange and learn about the situation, experiences, initiatives, etc.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/chinh-tri/202504/ban-linh-tri-tue-la-diem-tua-vung-chac-cho-nguoi-dan-doanh-nghiep-trong-luc-kho-khan-6e51bf6/