
Vietnam says more tariff negotiations with US needed
HANOI: The United States and Vietnam have concluded a second round of trade negotiations on tariffs and agreed to continue the talks to address unresolved issues, Vietnam's trade ministry said in a statement on Thursday (May 22).
The second round of talks took place in Washington on May 19-22 involving Vietnam's Trade Minister Nguyen Hong Dien and the US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, the Vietnamese ministry said on its website showing pictures of meetings.
"At the end of the negotiation round, Vietnam and the United States made positive progress, identifying groups of issues on which consensus was close, and groups of issues that needed further discussion to reach consensus in the coming time," the statement said, without elaborating.
It noted that talks will need to continue in early June.
The US Trade Representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment outside of US business hours.
Vietnam heavily relies on exports to the US and faces one of the highest "reciprocal" tariff rates set by the White House at 46 per cent.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
Somebody that I used to know: On the weird grief of colleague departures
This question has become part of my awkward welcome ritual for new hires: 'So ... are you a coffee person?' Day one usually begins at the cafe downstairs with a quick hello, a commemorative libation (coffee or otherwise), then a climb up the stairs to commence our journey as co-workers. Over the past decade of running my company, I've continued to personally onboard new workers. It's not that I can't trust someone else to do it. I just really enjoy it. I like showing them our 'designated crying area' (our pantry space) and explaining the curious phenomenon of the office bidet geyser. I like going through our culture deck, throwing in a few jokes to break the ice and seeing them decide how heartily they should laugh. It's orientation, yes, but also something more – a quiet hope that if you make them feel welcome and you remember their coffee order, they might stay a little longer. Then they leave. Sometimes after three years, sometimes three months. Sometimes on a good note, sometimes a strained one. And in that abrupt silence that follows, between offboarding checklists and looking at handover documents, I find myself wondering if any of these efforts were worth it. WON'T YOU STAY WITH ME? About a decade ago, the first person that I hired when I started the company decided to make a jump to a much bigger, more prestigious agency. It was a competitor but it paid her better and had a much more conducive structure for her career development. It made sense for her. We parted on good terms, but it was hard to maintain the same friendship once we no longer shared the day-to-day routines. Even seeing her career milestones pop up on social media triggered a small wave of disappointment – not at her, but at myself. It was insecurity and a bit of resentment all wrapped up in a forced double-tap of the 'like' button. We didn't speak for a long time. Only after a good five years had passed could we both approach the situation with some perspective and humour. Thankfully, we're now friendly again. This isn't a story about attrition rates or talent migration. It's about the emotional tax of investing in people who eventually walk away. No one tells you, when you first become a manager, that the job requires a strange kind of short-term memory. You pour time into someone, build a rhythm, start speaking in shared references and inside jokes – and then, poof, they're gone. Off to bigger things and better pay. The relationship seems to end abruptly there, apart from the occasional LinkedIn sightings. I know that's just the way the cookie crumbles. The workplace today is a revolving door of industry pivots, mental health breaks and career realignments. Everyone's chasing something – balance, purpose, remuneration, title and so on – and it's unlikely that staying in one place can offer everything. Still, why do I feel a small sting every time someone leaves? SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW I'll be honest. I still find it difficult not to take departures from the company personally. Not in a dramatic, weeping-in-the-toilet way, but in those smaller moments. When a photo of a past team outing pops up on social media, in a photo album or the memories in your head. Or when you retrieve an old presentation deck and you see the names tagged in the slides. Certainly not because they're wrong to go but maybe it's because, for a brief window of time, I had imagined a future where we'd keep building something together. This emotional dilemma isn't exclusive to managers and supervisors. The departure I've taken the hardest happened when I was still a junior executive, in the infancy of my career. At the time, I was part of a desk cluster with a senior who wasn't my direct boss, but who had become a de facto mentor. Christopher was soft-spoken, serious and a little stoic, but he always humoured my terrible puns. We'd often sneak off for 'planning sessions' at the canteen that had very little to do with planning. We talked about movies, music, family – the kind of conversations that anchor you during chaotic work days. One afternoon, Christopher told me that the following week would be his last with the company. He'd found a better opportunity elsewhere. In the 2002 Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs, there's a pivotal scene where Tony Leung, playing an undercover police officer, watches the only person who knows his true identity get killed. The camera lingers on his expression of shock and horror and this remains one of the strongest gut punches in cinematic history. On that day when Christopher told me the news, my expression would've made Tony's look mild at best. 'Oh. Congrats, Chris!' I managed to say. 'Happy for you.' Two weeks later at his cleaned-out desk, I shook his hand and said all the right things: 'Let's keep in touch. Don't be a stranger.' What I couldn't shake was the strange sense of grief and futility. What would be the point of keeping in touch if we no longer worked together? FRIENDS ARE FRIENDS … FOREVER? What is 'workplace culture'? We like to talk about it in terms of values and vision statements, but most of it comes down to the people. It is who you sit next to, the person who replies with a meme instead of a boring thumbs-up, the one who makes the 5pm slump bearable. So when they leave, it isn't just another email from the human resource department. It's a permanent glitch in your work day. Conventional business wisdom dictates that investing in people is never a waste, even when they might come and go – because people are the most valuable assets of any company. I've echoed those things. I even genuinely believe them. But there's another truth, too: that what isn't a waste can still sometimes feel like one regardless. It's only human of us to feel something, especially after we've poured hours into someone – coaching, giving feedback, having conversations over coffee and bubble tea – only to have them resign right when they finally started getting it. Maybe it is not quite bitterness but certainly, there is a sense of jadedness. The kind that makes you want to pull back with the next person, just a little. Don't get too attached. Don't ask about their weekend or their interests. Don't joke too much. Here's the catch: If you stop investing in your people earnestly and genuinely, you will slowly become the kind of manager you swore you'd never be. Transactional. Coldly efficient. Checked out. And ironically, that's exactly the kind of environment people want to leave. So I will keep trying, even when the farewell Slack message reads like a LinkedIn boilerplate. I will keep hoping that somewhere along the way, the time we spent together meant something. That, in between rushed deadlines and Monday check-ins, we managed to become more than just colleagues ticking boxes on a task list. Maybe that's the point – to make the workplace not just somewhere people pass through, but somewhere they felt seen, where they felt real connection, even if briefly. I love how Andy Bernard movingly puts it in the series finale of American sitcom The Office: "I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them." The real treasure, as they say, might just be the friends we made along the way.


CNA
5 hours ago
- CNA
Trade 'critical' to ASEAN, must be protected from ‘arbitrary' curbs: Anwar at Shangri-La Dialogue
SINGAPORE: Trade is part of Southeast Asia's strategic architecture and must be protected 'from the onslaught of arbitrary imposition of trade restrictions', said Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in a special address at this year's Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday (May 31). He added that the Southeast Asia region is 'holding its ground' in a troubled world, cautioning that trade faltering could have rippling consequences on stability, with impact cascading beyond any one region. 'In Southeast Asia, we have learned that lasting stability begins with steady fundamentals, clear policies and a long view. Trade is not a soft power indulgence. It is part of our strategic architecture,' said Anwar who is this year's rotating chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 'And like any critical system, it must be protected, not from competition, but from the onslaught of arbitrary imposition of trade restrictions,' he added in his 15-minute speech before regional defence ministers and chiefs. 'What holds true for us holds true elsewhere - where trade flourishes, stability follows. When it falters, the consequences ripple far beyond any one region,' said Anwar. While he did not specify countries, the Malaysian premier was referencing the ongoing trade war between US and China, which recently made global headlines following US President's Donald Trump sweeping 'Liberation Day' tariffs that caused turmoil in the stock market and sparked economic uncertainty across industries. ASEAN nations are among those most heavily hit by US tariffs, with countries such as Cambodia and Laos slapped with 49 per cent and 48 per cent import tariffs respectively, before Trump announced on Apr 9 a 90-day pause on 'reciprocal' tariffs on imports from almost 60 countries and the European Union. On May 12, both the US and China agreed to temporarily cut massive tariffs imposed on each other's goods. Washington cut tariffs on imports from China to 30 per cent from 145 per cent for 90 days, while Beijing will slash duties on US imports to 10 per cent from 125 per cent for the same period. As both countries continue to negotiate, countries across the world continue to be gripped by uncertainty. During the ASEAN Summit earlier this week, Anwar said that the bloc has the 'fortitude and staying power' to 'weather the storms' of economic uncertainty swirling in the region, arising from geopolitical trade tensions between the US and China. In his speech on Saturday, Anwar reiterated the importance of ASEAN's principle of 'centrality', and how it is widening its 'strategic aperture' by working with other regions such as the Gulf and the formation of the ASEAN Geoeconomics Task Force to help the bloc 'navigate external shocks'. 'And that gives us 'habits of cooperation' – trade facilitation, cybersecurity frameworks, cross-border data rules, cultural cooperation. They may not be as dramatic, but they are no less vital, for they give Southeast Asia greater impetus to act together,' said Anwar. 'And the more we act together, the harder it becomes to be pulled apart by external gravity. Preserving our autonomy is not about resisting others. It is about strengthening ourselves. This, in essence, is what ASEAN centrality is about,' he added.


CNA
7 hours ago
- CNA
Mahomes says he will not participate in LA28 flag football
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has ruled out playing flag football at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, saying he will leave representing the United States in the sport's Olympic debut to "the younger guys." National Football League teams approved a resolution last week allowing their players to compete in flag football at the LA Games. Mahomes, twice NFL Most Valuable Player and three-time Super Bowl MVP, will be 32 when the 2028 Games begin. Speaking during the off-season organized team activities this week, Mahomes told reporters, "I'll probably leave that to the younger guys. I'll be a little older by the time that comes around." "It's awesome. Honestly, just to be able to showcase the NFL to the whole world through flag football." The NFL has ramped up its promotion of flag football, a non-contact format of American football, since the International Olympic Committee approved it for the LA28 program in 2023, with an eye toward drawing more women into an arena long dominated by men. The league itself had long been on board with players competing in the Games, while multiple athletes, including Mahomes, said two years ago they wanted to play the sport at the LA Games. Six men's teams and six women's teams are set to compete in flag football at the LA Games, with 10 players per team competing in a five-on-five format.