Vietnam – an important link of US supply chain

Recently, 90 CEOs of leading US companies have urged President Joe Biden to accelerate the donation of vaccines to Vietnam as it battles its most serious COVID-19 outbreak, Dau tu (Investment) online newspaprer reported.

In a letter sent to the US President, the CEOs of companies like Adidas, Coach, Gap, Hanesbrands, Nike, VF and Under Amour have emphasized that Vietnam is an important economic and supply chain partner of the US.

Vietnam “is now the second largest supplier of apparel, footwear, and travel goods to the US market. Further, Vietnam has become a major supplier of crucial inputs for America’s small but important footwear manufacturing industry,” the letter said, adding about 3 million US workers are connected - through the value chains - to many millions more in Vietnam.

“The health of our industry is directly dependent on the health of Vietnam’s industry,” the CEOs wrote.

The CEOs have asked President Biden to accelerate the donation of vaccines and other materials to help keep Vietnam on a strong footing so it can quickly recover, noting that the crisis of their employees in Vietnam is also their crisis.

Twenty-six years after the normalisation of bilateral relations, economic and trade ties between Vietnam and the US have seen great progress, with two-way trade hitting an all-time high of US$90.8 billion in 2020, up 19.8% year-on-year, despite serious impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the Vietnam - US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) took effect in December 2001, two-way trade has continuously increased.

Bilateral trade was maintained in the first seven months of 2021 as the US continued to be Vietnam's largest importer with a turnover of US$53.7 billion, up 37.7% year-on-year.