Local employees work at a shoes manufacturing plant for U.S. brands. Bilateral trade between Vietnam and the United States in the first half of this year reached US$53.21 billion – PHOTO: VNA

HCMC - Bilateral trade between Vietnam and the United States in the first half of this year reached US$53.21 billion, according to data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

During the six-month period, Vietnam’s exports to the U.S. grew 44.7% year on year to US$45.58 billion. Regarding the country’s imports from the U.S., the value improved 9% against the same period last year to US$7.63 billion. Overall, Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of nearly US$38 billion with the U.S.

The top products that Vietnam exported to the U.S. were textiles and garments, footwear, wood and fisheries. Of them, the export of textiles and garments was US$7.61 billion, up over 23% versus the year-ago figure. The U.S. was also the largest buyer of Vietnamese textiles and garments in the period, accounting for nearly 50%.

Economic experts said that there will be plenty of opportunities for the two countries to increase two-way trade in the upcoming period. The most obvious move is that the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the State Bank of Vietnam and the Office of the United States Trade Representative reached an agreement on July 19 this year not to take any trade restrictive measures against Vietnam’s export items.

Besides this, the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade has coordinated with the relevant ministries and agencies to promote policy dialogue through the mechanism of the Vietnam-U.S. Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Council and achieved positive results.

Over the past period, leaders of Vietnam's ministries and agencies actively worked with the U.S. side to address many issues and gained specific results, thus contributing to promoting bilateral trade activities.

Back in the 2016-2020 period, Vietnam’s export value to the U.S. grew up to 230% while its import value from the U.S. market also expanded 175%. In 2020 alone, two-way trade between the two countries exceeded US$90 billion.

Up to now, Vietnam ranked 10th among the top trade partners of the U.S., while the U.S. remained the biggest buyer of Vietnam's products.