Vietnam proposes US to exempt tax on some agricultural products

According to information from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment , on the sidelines of Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc's working trip to the United States, Deputy Minister Hoang Trung recently met with US Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Jason Hafemeister; thereby proposing that the US consider exempting some groups of agricultural and aquatic products that do not directly compete and serve essential needs.

In addition to the above meeting, the delegation also worked with the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to strengthen cooperation to promote "opening" the market for agricultural products from the US to Vietnam as well as from Vietnam to the US.

(Illustrative photo. Source: VNA)

Promoting "opening" agricultural markets

At a meeting with Deputy Minister Jason Hafemeister on April 9 (local time), Deputy Minister Hoang Trung affirmed that the US Department of Agriculture is a reliable partner of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment as well as Vietnamese farmers.

Therefore, the representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment expressed his wish that the two ministries continue to strengthen cooperation, bringing many benefits to both countries, farmers and businesses of the two countries.

Sharing more, Mr. Trung said that since the meeting in 2024, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has implemented commitments with the US Department of Agriculture.

On that basis, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is urgently completing the risk assessment report (PRA) and other legal procedures so that seedless tangerines, plums, and lemons from the United States can enter the Vietnamese market in 2025.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has also completed the assessment and granted permission for use as animal feed for all genetically modified event records. In the spirit of bilateral cooperation, Mr. Trung suggested that the US side quickly consider “opening” the market for Vietnamese passion fruit.

Mr. Trung also said that regarding the US tax reduction proposal, the Vietnamese Government recently issued Decree 73/2025/ND-CP dated March 31, 2025 amending and supplementing preferential import tax rates for a number of goods.

Accordingly, basically, the average tax on wood products and wooden furniture has been reduced from 15-25% to 0%, corn and soybeans have been reduced from 2% to 0%, creating favorable conditions for US businesses to export to Vietnam.

At the meeting, representatives of the two ministries also discussed the US Government's announcement of imposing a very high reciprocal tax of up to 46% on Vietnamese goods exported to the US, which could cause great disadvantages not only to Vietnamese farmers and businesses, but also to US businesses and consumers.

According to Mr. Trung, Vietnamese agricultural products entering the US market are of high quality and reasonably priced. Therefore, he suggested that the US Department of Agriculture, in the spirit of effective cooperation between the two ministries in the past, support the proposal of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to consider exempting some groups of agricultural and aquatic products that serve the essential needs of US consumers and do not directly compete (such as seafood, cashews, pepper, vegetables, coffee).

Representatives of the working delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and representatives of the US Department of Agriculture took a souvenir photo. (Photo source: ICD)

On the side of the US Department of Agriculture, Deputy Secretary Jason Hafemeister affirmed that the Department of Agriculture and Environment is a good and reputable partner of the US Department of Agriculture. Thereby, he supported Vietnam's proposals and announced that the US Secretary of Agriculture is expected to visit Vietnam in May 2025 to continue discussing and developing cooperation between the two ministries in the field of agriculture.

Control of origin and anti-fraud of goods

Regarding wood products, recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has coordinated with the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to timely implement commitments in the agreement on controlling illegal logging and trade.

Recently, the Vietnamese Government also issued Decree 77/2025/ND-CP dated April 1, 2025 regulating the authority and procedures for establishing public ownership of assets and handling assets for which public ownership has been established.

Along with that, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is also developing a circular guiding the implementation of regulations on handling confiscated timber, in accordance with commitments in the agreement, working closely with Vietnamese authorities to control origin and combat goods fraud.

In that spirit, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Hoang Trung suggested that the US side quickly review the positive results of the Vietnamese side and come to a conclusion to end the investigation into the control of illegal logging and trade.

In addition to the meeting between Deputy Minister Hoang Trung and Deputy Minister Jason Hafemeister, the Vietnamese delegation also had technical exchanges with the Department of Foreign Affairs (US Department of Agriculture) on the specific implementation plan of the Proper Fertilizer Use Project with the goal of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of fertilizer use, increasing farmers' income and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in rice cultivation from the proper use of fertilizers.

The delegation also worked with the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to strengthen cooperation to promote market opening for agricultural products from the US to Vietnam as well as from Vietnam to the US.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the United States is the largest exporter of poultry meat to Vietnam (accounting for about 34% of total poultry meat imports); the second largest exporter of beef and the sixth largest exporter of pork (accounting for about 5%) among meat exporting countries to Vietnam.

According to Hung Vo (Vietnam+)

Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/viet-nam-de-xuat-hoa-ky-mien-tru-thue-doi-voi-mot-so-nhom-hang-nong-san-post318528.html