US Congressman Adrian Smith and Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien met in Washington, DC, with the goal of advancing trade negotiations between the US and Vietnam and increasing the import of US agricultural products.
Smith, a Republican from Nebraska, is a prominent voice for the US agriculture industry and the chair of the US House Subcommittee on Trade. The potential, opportunities, and recent developments in Vietnam-US economic cooperation—including with the state of Nebraska—were the main topics of discussion during the meeting.
Vietnam has pledged to import a variety of American goods since the US and Vietnam began reciprocal trade talks earlier this year, according to Dien.
According to him, Vietnamese companies are especially interested in premium corn from US states, which is a crucial component of Vietnam's sustainable energy strategy since it is used to produce seeds and process ethanol for biofuel. Nebraska beef has also become very popular among Vietnamese consumers.
In order to strengthen their economic and trade relations, he said he hoped Vietnam and Nebraska could set up workable cooperation mechanisms in areas of mutual interest.
Vietnam's imports from the United States have increased significantly since the year began: corn and soybeans have increased by 35%, seafood by 8%, and cotton by 126%. Vietnam has also entered into several agreements with US manufacturers to purchase aircraft.
Dien acknowledged the current trade imbalance between the two nations and stated that a key first step toward attaining more balanced trade would be to remove Vietnam from the US's D1/D3 list, which is a group of nations that are prohibited from obtaining specific high-tech products.
Given his substantial political clout and in-depth knowledge of trade and agriculture, Dien urged Smith to back Vietnam throughout the negotiating process. He urged the Congressman to serve as a liaison between the US and Vietnam, particularly in fields where Nebraska excels, like biotechnology, aviation, and agriculture.
Smith expressed his confidence that recent positive developments create favorable conditions to boost bilateral trade cooperation and welcomed Dien's visit and message. He commended Vietnam's efforts to advance trade balance, especially its increased purchases of corn for the production of biofuel.
He confirmed the great potential for growing US raw material imports after having previously visited Vietnamese seafood and agricultural facilities.
He conveyed his hope that reciprocal trade talks would soon be concluded between the two parties and that the agreement would result in significant advantages for both parties' trade and economic cooperation.
