Viet Nam, China aim for more balanced trade growth

Hung made the remarks during talks with Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao on April 15, held as part of Party General Secretary and State President To Lam’s state visit to China.

At the meeting, the two ministers reviewed recent economic and trade ties, as well as the implementation of the high-level common perceptions reached by the countries' leaders and the cooperation documents between the two ministries.

They reaffirmed that Viet Nam and China remain key trading partners of each other. China has consistently been Viet Nam’s largest trading partner and second-largest export market, while Viet Nam continues to be China’s biggest trading partner in ASEAN.

According to Viet Nam Customs, bilateral trade reached 256.5 billion USD in 2025, up 24.8% year-on-year.

Hung urged China to expand imports of Vietnamese goods, broaden the list of products eligible for tariff preferences, and further open its market. He also called for the mutual recognition of quarantine results for agro-forestry-fishery products, facilitation of Vietnamese exports via cross-border e-commerce, and expansion of Viet Nam’s trade promotion offices across Chinese localities.

Wang said China’s Ministry of Commerce will continue to support Viet Nam in setting up additional trade promotion offices, following those already established in Chongqing, Hangzhou, and Haikou.

China also expressed readiness to support Viet Nam’s stronger exports through cross-border e-commerce, encouraging greater visibility of the Viet Nam National Pavilion on Chinese e-commerce platforms beyond JD.com to better promote Vietnamese products to Chinese consumers.

Regarding the "Big Market for All: Export to China" initiative, Wang invited Viet Nam to actively participate in five Viet Nam-related activities in 2026 and welcomed it as a featured country in the 2027 event series.

He stressed that both sides should focus on implementing the high-level common perceptions, including raising bilateral trade turnover to 500 billion USD in the coming years.

The two ministers agreed to establish a joint technical working group to review progress and accelerate the implementation of the high-level consensus, outcomes of the talks, and commitments under the signed agreements.

On this occasion, the Chinese minister invited Hung to lead a Vietnamese delegation to the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting in Suzhou this May. The Vietnamese official also invited his host to visit Viet Nam in the near future to further discuss cooperation issued of shared interest.