By
Reuters
Revealed
January 8, 2025
The U.S. commerce deficit with Vietnam exceeded $110 billion within the first 11 months of 2024, newest U.S. figures present, as exports from the Southeast Asian industrial hub grew amid a document fall of its forex towards the greenback.
Reuters
The most recent studying, launched on Tuesday by the U.S. statistics company, confirmed a virtually 18% rise within the deficit in contrast with the identical interval the earlier yr. The information confirms the Communist-run nation has the fourth highest industrial surplus with america, topped solely by China, the European Union and Mexico.
The big hole is seen by analysts as a serious danger for the export-reliant nation amid threats from President-elect Donald Trump to impose tariffs of as much as 20% on all U.S. imports.
That danger has been compounded by a pointy fall of Vietnam’s dong in current months, with the dong buying and selling close to its lowest ever ranges towards the greenback. The pattern is intently watched in Washington as Vietnam is among the nations beneath scrutiny for potential forex manipulation.
Vietnam, which counts the U.S. as its greatest market, is dwelling to huge export-focussed industrial operations of U.S. multinationals similar to Apple, Google, Nike and Intel.
Newest seasonally adjusted commerce figures present that within the January-November interval Vietnam accrued a industrial surplus with the U.S. of $111.6 billion, up from $94.8 billion in the identical interval in 2023. Unadjusted information pointed to a bigger hole of $113.1 billion.
In November, the commerce hole expanded by one other $11.3 billion, accelerating from October, as Vietnam’s exports to the U.S. rose, the adjusted information present, probably supported by the weak dong.
“If the U.S. perceives that Vietnam is deliberately keeping the dong weak to gain an unfair trade advantage, it could trigger renewed accusations of currency manipulation,” mentioned Leif Schneider, head of worldwide regulation agency Luther in Vietnam.Trump ended his first time period within the White Home with Treasury declarations of Vietnam and Switzerland as forex manipulators over their market interventions to weaken the worth of their currencies.
Vietnam’s central financial institution has mentioned it was able to intervene within the international trade market in case of opposed financial impacts from forex strikes, and has offered {dollars} prior to now to strengthen the dong.
On Tuesday, earlier than new commerce figures have been launched, the financial institution mentioned it could monitor Trump’s insurance policies and modify accordingly.The dong’s most up-to-date depreciation towards the greenback is broadly in keeping with different main currencies.
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