HCMC – Vietnam and the United States conducted the fifth round of direct negotiations on an agreement on reciprocal, fair and balanced trade in Washington, D.C. from November 12 to 14, Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade said on its website today (November 15).
The Vietnamese delegation was led by Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien, head of the Government’s negotiating team, and included members of the negotiation panel and representatives of various ministries and agencies such as Public Security, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Home Affairs, Agriculture and Environment, Science and Technology, Justice, and the State Bank of Vietnam.
The Vietnamese and U.S. negotiating teams made significant progress in multiple areas, including services, digital trade, agriculture, technical barriers to trade (TBT), and sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS), while narrowing differences in other outstanding issues.
During the closing session, representatives of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and the Vietnamese negotiation team assessed the round as highly constructive, creating favorable conditions for the early conclusion of the Vietnam–U.S. reciprocal trade agreement.
Both sides also agreed on follow-up work after this round and committed to holding several virtual meetings in the coming days to continue discussions on remaining issues and prepare for an online ministerial-level negotiation between U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Minister Nguyen Hong Dien, expected this month.
The two countries agreed on October 26 to a framework for an agreement on reciprocal, fair and balanced trade.
