China, Vietnam sign deals as Xi visits Hanoi amid US tariff tensions

China's President Xi Jinping on Monday called for stronger ties with Vietnam on trade and supply chains amid disruptions caused by United States tariffs, as he attended in Hanoi the signing of dozens of cooperation agreements between the two Communist-run nations.

The visit, planned for weeks and part of a wider trip in Southeast Asia, comes as Beijing faces 145 percent US duties, while Vietnam is negotiating a reduction of threatened US tariffs of 46 percent that would otherwise apply in July after a global moratorium expires.

"The two sides should strengthen cooperation in production and supply chains," Xi said in an article in Nhandan, the newspaper of Vietnam's Communist Party, posted ahead of his arrival on Monday. He also urged more trade and stronger ties with Hanoi on artificial intelligence and the green economy.

"There are no winners in trade wars and tariff wars," Xi added, without mentioning the US specifically.

After he met Vietnam's top leader To Lam, the two countries signed dozens of cooperation agreements, footage of the documents reviewed by Reuters showed, including deals on enhancing supply chains and on cooperation over railways.

The content of the agreements was not disclosed and it was unclear whether they involved any financial or binding commitments.

On Saturday Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son had said around 40 agreements would be signed. A separate aviation business deal was signed on Sunday.

Under pressure from Washington, Vietnam is tightening controls on some trade with China to make sure goods exported to the United States with a "Made in Vietnam" label have sufficient added value in the country to justify that.

One memorandum of understanding signed on Monday is to boost cooperation between the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which issues certificates on the origins of goods.

Vietnam is a major industrial and assembly hub in Southeast Asia. Most of its imports are from China while the United States is its main export market. The country is a crucial source of electronics, shoes and apparel for the US.

In the first three months of this year Hanoi imported goods worth about US$30 billion (HK$234 billion) from Beijing while its exports to Washington amounted to US$31.4 billion, Vietnam's customs data show, confirming a long-term trend in which imports from China closely match the value and swings of exports to the US.

REUTERS