USDA delegation visits Vietnam | USDA Foreign Agricultural Service

U.S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Alexis Taylor and Undersecretary for Trade and Regulatory Programs Jenny Moffitt visited Vietnam from February 27 to March 1 to celebrate the country’s opening of markets to U.S. grapefruit imports. This success of the trade policy underlines the strong and growing cooperation between the two countries. Vietnam is currently the ninth largest market for US agricultural products, and the United States is the largest market for Vietnamese agricultural products.

While in Vietnam, Taylor and Moffit met with Vietnam’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan to discuss further cooperation and exchange of technical information to demonstrate the benefits of agricultural biotechnologies and innovative technologies. As partners in international climate change coalitions, including the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate) and the Sustainable Productivity Growth (SPG) Coalition, the United States and Vietnam have an excellent opportunity to promote food systems that foster innovation, more sustainable production to give smaller environmental footprint.

The USDA delegation also met with Đỗ Thắng Hải, Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade (MOIT), to appreciate MOIT’s support for most-favored-nation tariff reductions for key US agricultural products. These low tariffs benefit US exporters while also helping to control costs for Vietnamese importers and consumers. The USDA also supports Vietnam’s gasoline blending policy goal of 10 percent ethanol. Vietnam’s gasoline use is increasing and the use of ethanol blends will increase its energy security by combining domestic production with reliable trade flows with the United States.

During this trip, Deputy Secretary Taylor also had the opportunity to attend a reception hosted by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute as part of a trade mission to Vietnam. Vietnam’s expanding middle class, fine dining options, and its five-star tourism industry make Alaska a top seafood destination. Vietnam is also home to state-of-the-art processing facilities that can create new and innovative value-added seafood products using Alaskan seafood.

The USDA delegation’s visit underscored the importance of the US-Vietnam agricultural relationship, including the two countries’ cooperation in climate-smart agricultural practices and initiatives, and their work to strengthen bilateral agricultural trade and promote US agricultural and food products to Vietnamese importers.