According to Vietnam’s “Investment News” report on August 25, 90 CEOs of a number of well-known American brands such as Adidas, Coach, Gap, Hanebrands, Nike, and VF recently jointly sent a letter to the United States President Biden has suggested speeding up aid to Vietnam for COVID-19 vaccines. The letter emphasized that Vietnam is an important economic partner and important supply chain of the United States. The U.S. shoemaking, textile and apparel industries rely heavily on the “health” of their Vietnamese counterparts. Therefore, the rapid resumption of production in important industries in Vietnam through the vaccine aid plan will reduce the risk of supply chain disruptions in related industries, markets and companies in the United States.
Reports say that since the establishment of bilateral trade relations between Vietnam and the United States 26 years ago, Vietnam has become an important link in the U.S. supply chain. According to Vietnam Customs statistics, the bilateral trade volume between Vietnam and the United States has increased 168 times in the past 25 years, from US$450 million in 1995 to nearly US$75.7 billion in 2019. In 2020, Vietnam’s exports to many countries were severely affected by the epidemic, but exports to the United States still reached US$90.8 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19.8%. In the first seven months of this year, the United States remained Vietnam’s largest export market, with exports worth US$53.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 37.7%. Vietnam has surpassed India and France to become the tenth largest trading partner of the United States. However, it should be noted that Vietnam’s trade surplus with the United States has grown too fast, posing greater challenges in trade investigations. In 2020, the United States launched a total of 8 anti-dumping and countervailing investigations on Vietnamese exports.
