Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said on Tuesday that Vietnam plans to negotiate fresh trade agreements during the year, aiming to reduce the impact of U.S. tariffs on its exports to the American market, the country’s largest trading partner.

The statement came days after estimates by the United Nations Development Programme showed U.S. duties risked slashing by up to one-fifth of Vietnam’s exports to the United States, making it the hardest-hit country in Southeast Asia.

Exports “will face difficulties and challenges … due to strategic competition, conflicts and the U.S.’s ‘reciprocal’ tariff policies,” Prime Minister Chinh said in a statement posted on the government’s website on Wednesday.

He expected exports to grow more than 12% this year. Vietnam’s exports in the year to Septemb

See Full Page