Vietnam’s deputy PM to meet US’s Bessent, Boeing on Wednesday, schedule shows

By Phuong Nguyen, Francesco Guarascio and David Lawder

HANOI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister is set to talk on Wednesday with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and plans also to meet Boeing (NYSE:BA), SpaceX and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) executives this week, according to an internal schedule seen by Reuters.

The export-reliant Southeast Asian nation is scrambling to persuade the Trump administration to revise its decision to impose tariffs of 46% on Vietnam’s exports to Washington, which account for about 30% of the country’s gross domestic product.

Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc is set to meet Bessent for about 45 minutes at the Treasury in Washington at 4 p.m. EST (2000 GMT) on Wednesday, according to the internal schedule, which is still subject to changes.

A senior U.S. official confirmed the meeting on Wednesday, but declined to provide additional details or topics.

The purpose of the meeting is to organise talks for a possible revision of tariffs on Vietnam, said one person who talked in Washington with members of the Vietnamese delegation, noting an immediate reprieve was unlikely.

The source declined to be named because the information was not public.

Vietnam has asked the United States to delay the implementation of reciprocal tariffs, which take effect on Wednesday, and its top leader To Lam in a call with U.S. President Donald Trump last week said he was open to discussing a zero-tariff deal with Washington.

The country has already made multiple concession to the United States, including lowering duties and increasing imports.

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"They’ve lowered their tariffs already on cherries. They’ve lowered them on almonds and apples," U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, adding these exports are important to Western U.S. states.

"And this is exactly the right direction that we want to go in," he added, noting however that "Vietnam is one of those countries that understands that it is, frankly, one of the major targets of this action, because their trade surplus with us is so lopsided."

Vietnam has the fourth-largest trade surplus among all U.S. trading partners. It was worth $123.5 billion last year.

On Monday White House trade adviser Peter Navarro had highlighted major concerns about Vietnam, including transhipping from China, the dumping of seafood and other goods, and intellectual property issues.

BUSINESS MEETINGS

Immediately after the meeting with Bessent, Phoc plans to meet executives of planemaker Boeing at 5 p.m. EST and attend the signing of an agreement between Vietnamese airline Vietjet and investment fund KKR, the schedule shows.

Reuters reported last week that Vietjet was set to sign a $200 million aircraft finance deal with a partner of KKR on Wednesday at a ceremony attended by Boeing, as the budget airline seeks to finalise the purchase of Boeing jets.

Multiple Vietnamese and U.S. officials had said the purchase of planes by Vietnamese companies could be a way for the country to address U.S. trade concerns.

On Thursday, Phoc intends to meet executives from Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is planning to offer its Starlink satellite internet services in Vietnam after having been granted an exemption to bypass strict foreign ownership limits.

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The meeting with SpaceX is to be confirmed, according to the schedule.

The programme also shows that Phoc is set to meet Apple executives on Thursday, and sit down with other U.S. companies with manufacturing operations in Vietnam, including Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO).

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