Vietnam Buys More U.S. Goods After Trump Calls It Trade Abuser

(Bloomberg) --

Vietnam is buying more U.S. goods to help it reduce a $39.5 billion surplus, after President Donald Trump called the country a trade abuser.

“Vietnam has made great efforts to improve the trade balance between the two countries, increasing imports,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said in a statement late Friday. Vietnam is improving investment conditions for U.S. companies while encouraging Vietnamese businesses to invest in the U.S., Hang said.

Trump, asked this week on Fox Business Network if he wanted to impose tariffs on Vietnam, said: “Well, we’re in discussions with Vietnam.” He described the Southeast Asian nation as “almost the single worst abuser of everybody.”

Vietnam’s trade surplus with the U.S. has exceeded $20 billion since 2014 and reached $39.5 billion last year, the highest in records going back to 1990, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said in a January interview his country will step up imports from the U.S., from Boeing Co. aircraft to products from oil companies.

Vietnam’s government said Friday that its trade ministry will sign a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Energy Department that includes buying “large volumes” of liquefied natural gas from the U.S. It also said Trump, in a meeting with Phuc at the G-20 summit in Japan, complimented Vietnam for its efforts to crack down on trade fraud.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen in Hanoi at uyen1@bloomberg.net;John Boudreau in Hanoi at jboudreau3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Angus Whitley, Stanley James

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