No surprises there.....
From US trade representative Lighthizer:
- US businesses face unfair trade barriers in Vietnam
- Vietnam must take action to reduce unsustainable trade deficit
I am not sure he wants them to reduce a trade deficit (or perhaps I am reading that wrong).
Yesterday, Vietnam reported a $200M trade surplus. Exports increased 9.3% vs a year ago and imports rose 5%.
The US Treasury Department completes a review twice every year on the currency practices of foreign governments and declined to label any as manipulators.
However the treasury also maintains a watchlist that serves as formal notice that countries have practices considered suspect.
The most recent watchlist included China, Germany (despite the fact that they use the EURo which is interesting), South Korea and Japan.
The most recent report change some of the criteria it uses to evaluate manipulation. That added five new countries to the list including Italy, Ireland, Malaysia, Singapore and yes....Vietnam.
The US trade deficit in 2018 totaled $891.3B in 2018 and increase of $83.8B from 2017. The trade deficit with Vietnam was $39.5B of that $891.3B.
