Joint Statement of Vietnam and the United States on the Framework of the Reciprocal Trade Agreement

On October 26, Vietnam and the United States agreed to issue the Vietnam-United States Joint Statement on the Framework for a Fair and Balanced Trade Agreement (Joint Statement) on the occasion of President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's attendance at the ASEAN Summit held from October 26-28, 2025, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Joint Statement is a document that Vietnam and the United States agreed to issue to demonstrate the results of reciprocal trade negotiations between the two countries so far as well as to acknowledge the efforts of Vietnamese and US government agencies and businesses in building economic and trade relations on a balanced, stable and sustainable basis, in line with the Vietnam - US Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

The Joint Statement addresses the main contents of the reciprocal, fair and balanced trade agreement, under which both Vietnam and the United States will cooperate constructively to address concerns of both sides related to non-tariff barriers, agree on commitments related to digital trade, services and investment; discuss intellectual property, sustainable development as well as strengthen cooperation to improve the resilience of supply chains...

In the coming time, the two sides will continue to discuss and implement the next steps towards completing a reciprocal, fair and balanced trade agreement based on the principles of openness, constructiveness, equality, respect for independence, autonomy, political institutions, mutual benefit and consideration of each other's development level.

Since the end of April 2025, Vietnam and the United States have held many reciprocal trade negotiation sessions at both the technical and ministerial levels. The Vietnamese Government negotiation delegation, led by Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien, includes leaders and officials of the following ministries and agencies: Industry and Trade, Foreign Affairs, Public Security, Finance, Justice, Agriculture and Environment, Science and Technology, Home Affairs, Construction, Health, State Bank of Vietnam and the Embassy of Vietnam in the United States. Many in-person and online negotiation sessions have taken place between Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien and Chief of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer and US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.

In the early morning of August 1, 2025 (Vietnam time), the White House posted President Donald Trump's Executive Order on adjusting the reciprocal tax rate, according to which the United States adjusted the reciprocal tax rate for 69 countries and territories listed in Appendix I. According to this Appendix, the reciprocal tax rate for Vietnam decreased from 46% to 20%.

According to Vietnam Customs data as of the end of September 2025, the total bilateral trade turnover reached about 126.4 billion USD (up 27.3% over the same period in 2024), of which Vietnam exported to the US 112.8 billion USD (up 27.7% over the same period in 2024; accounting for 32.3% of total exports); imported from the US 13.66 billion USD (up 23.6% over the same period in 2024, accounting for 4.1% of total imports).

Source: https://vtv.vn/tuyen-bo-chung-viet-nam-va-hoa-ky-ve-khuyen-kho-hiep-dinh-thuong-mai-doi-ung-100251026173445439.htm