Bilateral trade between Vietnam and the United States picked up three times in the past eight years, from US$18.01 billion in 2010 to US$60.28 billion last year, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.


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File photo of employees working at a foreign garment company


During the period, Vietnam continuously enjoyed trade surpluses with the United States, its largest export market. Last year’s trade surplus with the country was estimated at nearly US$34.8 billion, equivalent to 73.2% of Vietnam’s export value to this market.

Data from the customs authority released on February 28 showed that Vietnam-U.S. trade in 2010-2018 grew by 16.3% per year on average, with significant growth rates of 19.2% in 2011 and 20.2% in 2014. 

In the first month of this year, total imports and exports between the two countries were recorded at almost US$6.23 billion, rising by up to 38.13% against the same month last year, or US$1.72 billion.

Vietnam’s exports to the United States in the eight-year period saw average annual growth of 16.3%, from US$14.24 billion in 2010 to US$47.53 billion. As for imports from the United States, the value went up from US$3.77 billion in 2010 to US$12.75 billion last year with annual growth averaging 16.5%.

This January alone, exports to the United States reached US$5.15 billion, up 42.2% year-on-year.

Preliminary customs data showed that the top 10 product exports to the United States accounted for 85.4% of total exports to this market last year, at US$40.58 billion.

Among these, exports of apparel amounted to US$13.7 billion last year (up 11.6% against 2017), followed by footwear, US$5.82 billion (up 13.9%); phones and their parts, US$5.41 billion (up 46.1%); wood and wooden products, US$3.9 billion (up 19.3%); and machinery and their components, US$3.4 billion (up 40.3%).

In terms of U.S. import value last year, the 10 main groups of products made up over US$8.97 billion, or 70.4%. Major imports are computers and electronic devices and their components, valued at US$3.1 billion (up 9.6% against 2017).

Last year also witnessed nearly 7,200 Vietnamese businesses exporting their goods to the U.S. market, marking a year-on-year rise of 7.6%. Meanwhile, as many as 13,200 businesses imported products from this market, up 6.3%.

SGT