Vietnam to sign agriculture deals with US worth US$2b

HANOI — Vietnam is expected to sign deals with the United States to buy more than $2 billion worth of agricultural products, Hanoi said Tuesday, as it tries to slash President Donald Trump’s threatened 46 percent tariff.

The announcement came as a delegation from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment led by Minister Do Duc Duy visited the United States.

Vietnam has the third-biggest trade surplus with the United States of any country after China and Mexico and is anxious to address the imbalance to head off the tariff threat.

The deals announced Tuesday include five memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to buy products worth around $800 million from the state of Iowa over three years, the agriculture ministry said in a statement on its website.

This is up from the current average of $44 million of agricultural exports per year from Iowa to Vietnam, the statement said.

The new deals include the purchase of soybean meal, corn, wheat, dried soybeans and dried distillers grains (DDGS), it added.

Vietnam is due to head into a third round of trade talks with the United States in the coming days.

Last month it said “positive progress” has been made following three days of discussions in Washington.

The Vietnamese team sought help during its time in the United States from US tech and industry giants, including Lockheed Martin, SpaceX and Google.

It also signed an agreement with US company Westinghouse Electric on nuclear power development.

Trump’s real estate group broke ground last month in Vietnam on a $1.5-billion luxury resort and golf course 40 kilometres (25 miles) southeast of the capital Hanoi.

His son, Eric Trump, an executive vice president of The Trump Organization, and his wife Lara attended the event, as well as local partner the Kinhbac City Development Corporation (KBC).

He has also been scouting locations for a potential tower project in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s southern business hub. — AFP