Minister Nguyen Hong Dien meets with U.S. Under Secretary Jacob Helberg

On the afternoon of November 14 (local time), at the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington, D.C., Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien held a working session with U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jacob Helberg. The meeting was attended by Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States Nguyen Quoc Dung and representatives from several ministries and agencies of Vietnam.

At the meeting, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien reaffirmed Vietnam’s consistent stance that expanding cooperation with the United States in high technology is a strategic step, in line with the framework of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. He emphasized that Vietnam aims for growth driven by science, technology, and innovation, targeting an economic expansion rate of over 10% in the next decade. In that context, collaboration with the U.S. in artificial intelligence (AI), advanced technologies, and the development of a technology ecosystem is both timely and essential.

Minister Dien stressed that Vietnam has shown goodwill in trade negotiations, helping the U.S. achieve favorable outcomes with its partners. Therefore, he expressed hope that the U.S. would adopt a reasonable and flexible approach consistent with the spirit of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

He also proposed that the U.S. remove Vietnam from the D1 and D3 control lists restricting the export of high-tech products and recognize Vietnam’s market economy status, thereby laying the foundation for stronger bilateral cooperation in the coming period.

Under Secretary Jacob Helberg expressed pleasure at meeting the Minister again and highly appreciated Vietnam’s proactive approach, particularly its initiative on AI cooperation. He reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to deepening ties with Hanoi in areas such as security, energy, logistics, supply chains, and manufacturing.

Recalling their previous discussions in Malaysia, Mr. Helberg highlighted the shared vision to enhance cooperation in frontier technologies, build a robust high-tech ecosystem, and develop mechanisms to protect foundational industries, especially in semiconductors and AI. He noted that Vietnam possesses significant manufacturing strengths and holds strategic value for the United States in advancing high-tech industries.

The U.S. Under Secretary welcomed Vietnam’s proposals and affirmed that he would report them in full to senior leadership, including President Donald Trump.

He outlined two parallel approaches: promoting a reciprocal trade agreement and expanding strategic cooperation in economic security, supply chains, and technology. He also suggested formulating common principles as a basis for future Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) and pilot projects in specific sectors.

Concluding the meeting, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien expressed confidence in the Under Secretary’s role in advancing bilateral relations and looked forward to concrete, practical outcomes soon, contributing to a stronger, more dynamic partnership between Vietnam and the United States.