According to the US International Trade Commission under the Department of Commerce, Vietnamese exports to the country reached US$5.77 billion in the first six months of this year, up 1.6 percent compared to the same period last year.
Textile and garments top the list of exported items, earning US$2.39 billion, up 2.3 percent while footwear exports earned US$720,000, up 20 percent.
US exports to Vietnam dropped by 15.5 percent to more than US$1.3 billion in six months. Overall, total import-export value between Vietnam and the US hit over US$7 billion, down by 2 percent.
Ngo Van Thoan, Vietnam’s trade counsellor in the US, said that Vietnamese businesses have made a great effort to increase export turnover to the US. However, the global economic downturn has led to a decline in US consumer demand for Vietnamese products such as furniture, seafood and agricultural products.
Due to trade barriers, Vietnam’s export earnings from America this year is estimated to hover somewhere between US$12.6 billion and US$13 billion./.