Remarks by Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen at Bilateral Meeting with Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh, in New York, New York

As Prepared for Delivery

Prime Minister Chinh, I’m very glad we are meeting here in New York again after my visit to Hanoi in July.

As I said to you this summer, I care deeply about further improving our bilateral economic relationship.

Indeed, just earlier this month, President Biden and General Secretary Trong took the historic step of upgrading the United States–Vietnam relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

This reflects the remarkable strides in our mutual understanding and trust in recent years and underscores our commitment to deepening cooperation in the years to come. It also presents new opportunities to jointly promote innovation-driven inclusive economic growth.

Since we normalized relations in 1995, Vietnam has become a close economic partner, with our two-way trade reaching record highs last year and the United States serving as Vietnam’s largest export market.

The Biden-Harris Administration views Vietnam as a key partner in our “friendshoring” approach to deepen integration with a broad set of partners and allies to create diverse, resilient, and sustainable supply chains in key industries. We are encouraged by the growing investments that companies are making in Vietnam and recognize Vietnam’s tremendous potential as a major player in the semiconductor industry.

I also welcome your leadership on the clean energy transition. Along with my International Partners Group colleagues, I have been heartened to see momentum towards developing a Resource Mobilization Plan under the Just Energy Transition Partnership, or JETP. I look forward to talking more about Vietnam’s path forward.

Thank you

###