Vietnam’s trade deficit with China widens to $34 billion in 2019

Bilateral trade between the two countries reached nearly $116.9 billion last year, up 9.5% from a year earlier when Vietnam exported $41.4 billion and imported $75.5 billion from the market.

Vietnam also reported a wider trade deficit with China in December at $2.67 billion, up 21% from a year before. Vietnam’s trade deficit accelerates, showing the Southeast Asian economy’s commerce deteriorated amid US-China trade war.

Customs data shows that Vietnam’s import revenue from China is increasing much faster than exports to the U.S. since manufacturers in the country rely on final-stage assembly or transshipment, tapping opportunities in the trade war between the two world’s largest economies.

In 2019, Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of $47 billion in a total bilateral trade revenue with U.S. of $75.7 billion. Of the amount, the Southeast Asian country exported $61.3 billion and imported $14.4 billion from the State.

In 2018 Vietnam’s trade surplus with the United States was reported at $34.9 billion.

In the final month of last year, Vietnam reported $4.46 billion trade surplus with U.S., Vietnam’s largest export market, in a total revenue of $7 billion.    

Vietnam is at risk of being labeled a currency manipulator by the U.S. because of its trade surplus with the U.S., a highly positive current account balance and because its central bank has been quite active in terms of net foreign exchange purchases, Reuters says.

Earlier, Vietnamese government has been seeking to import more U.S. goods to help narrow the trade gap following threats by President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on its products amid the trade war.

► Vietnam reports over $11 billion trade surplus in 2019, beating estimates

► Vietnam reports $1 billion trade deficit in December