Latest news with #VietnamUSrelations
Khaleej Times
21-05-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Trump Organisation breaks ground on $1.5 billion golf club in Vietnam
Vietnam's prime minister and US President Donald Trump's son Eric held a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday for a $1.5 billion luxury residential development with three 18-hole golf courses outside Hanoi. The US president's Trump Organisation family business and its local partners received approval for the project last week from the Communist authorities in Vietnam, which is separately negotiating over tariffs with Washington. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said Eric Trump's visit "motivated us to expedite this project", and urged local authorities to provide maximum support and facilitate the completion of the 990-hectare resort within the planned timeframe by the end of 2027. Eric Trump is also set to meet Ho Chi Minh City officials on Thursday to explore plans for a skyscraper in Vietnam's southern business hub, according to an internal schedule seen by Reuters. Projects to be developed in Vietnam will be "the envy of all of Asia and of the entire world", said Eric Trump, who is a senior vice-president of the Trump Organisation. He praised its Vietnamese partner, real estate firm Kinhbac City, and promised to visit the country "very often". The collaboration, whose terms are not public, "will focus on developing 5-star hotels, championship-style golf courses, and luxurious residential estates and unparalleled amenities in Vietnam," the consortium said in a statement in October. Vietnam was meant to be hit with some of the highest US tariff rates of any country at 46 per cent when President Trump announced his 'Liberation Day' plan for global tariffs on April 2. Trump has since postponed the tariffs for 90 days. Vietnamese trade negotiators are in Washington to discuss compromises. Offers made include lowering tariffs and non-tariff barriers, intensifying the fight against trade frauds and counterfeiting, and providing favourable conditions to Starlink, owned by Trump's close ally Elon Musk, to roll out satellite internet services in Vietnam. Organisers said the golf project in Hung Yen, a few kilometres south of Hanoi along the Red River, swiftly obtained approvals from local authorities. Local people interviewed by Reuters outside the venue showed support for the project but some expressed concern over financial compensation. "Hopefully, we will get a reasonable compensation when they take the land for the project," said Ha Nho Son, a 61-year-old farmer. Chinh repeatedly said local people would be fairly compensated. The Trump Organisation has luxury golf projects, completed or under development, in countries from Indonesia to the Middle East.
CNA
16-05-2025
- Business
- CNA
US tells Vietnam trade deficit 'unsustainable' and major concern during tariff talks
HANOI :The United States has told Vietnam its trade deficit with the Southeast Asian country is "unsustainable" and a major concern, Vietnamese state media reported on Friday, as the two countries hold negotiations on tariffs. Vietnam has been holding talks with the U.S., its largest export market, to persuade the U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to take a benign view of its huge trade surplus with America, after Trump in April announced a "reciprocal" tariff rate of 46 per cent on Vietnamese goods, to take effect in July. Robert Kaproth, a senior U.S. Treasury official, said in a Thursday meeting with Vietnam's deputy finance minister Cao Anh Tuan the country must take measures to combat illegal transshipment and other kinds of trade fraud, Vietnam News Agency reported on Friday. Tuan asked Kaproth to help facilitate Vietnam's imports of American high-tech products, as part of their efforts to narrow the trade deficit, which exceeded $123 billion last year. "Vietnam has demand for products that are strengths of the United States in the fields of energy, high technology, aviation, machinery and equipment, and agricultural products," Tuan said, according to the report. The U.S. Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. In a bid to reduce its trade surplus with Washington, Hanoi has recently taken several measures, including cutting tariffs on a wide range of goods destined for the U.S. and stepped up its crackdown on Chinese goods being shipped to the U.S. via its territory. Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said the first round of tariff negotiations with the U.S. took place earlier this month, noting that the country is among the first the U.S. has agreed to hold tariff negotiations with. Vietnam foreign ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said at a regular press conference on Thursday that "Vietnam is actively promoting a balanced and sustainable trade relation with the U.S."
