By Clint Thompson and Dale Sandlin
The U.S. trade deficit with Vietnam was more than $178 billion in 2025. That’s “unacceptable” for President Trump and his administration. More American goods need to be exported to Vietnam, and that includes agricultural crops.
In an interview with AgNet Media, Luke Lindberg, Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Lindberg discussed a recent trade mission with Vietnam.
“The Vietnam trade mission was a great story of opportunity. The U.S.-Vietnam relationship is one that’s very lopsided. We have a $200 billion trade deficit with Vietnam across all sectors, not just agriculture. The president believes that is absolutely unacceptable,” Lindberg said. “Trade should be balanced and reciprocal. Today it’s not. Vietnam recognizes that. They realize that if they want to continue to have the access of the U.S. market that many of their industries benefit from, they need to find more things from America to buy to balance that trading relationship and there is no better sector than in agriculture.
“This past year because we’ve made progress in Vietnam, we had record years in corn, tree nuts, cotton, wheat; all had their best years ever in exports to Vietnam.”
According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, U.S. goods imports from Vietnam totaled $193.8 billion in 2025, up 42% from 2024. In comparison, U.S. goods exports to Vietnam in 2025 were $15.7 billion, up 20%. That created a trade deficit of $178.2 billion, a 44.3% increase from 2024.
“We are leveraging those relationships which have really been unbalanced in the past to open up new and very large opportunities for U.S. farmers,” Lindberg said.