HANOI (Reuters) – China and Vietnam signed dozens of cooperation deals on Monday, including on production and supply chains as well as railway cooperation, as Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the Southeast Asian nation, footage of the signed documents seen by Reuters showed.
The details and content of the agreements was not disclosed and it was unclear if they involve financial commitments.
The visit comes as Beijing, Vietnam’s largest trading partner and a key source of materials and equipment for its manufacturing industry, faces the threat of 145% tariffs being put on its exports to the U.S., while Vietnam is negotiating a reduction of its own threatened U.S. tariffs of 46%.
Other deals that could be seen in the footage include those signed between the two countries’ trade and defence ministries and between their chambers of commerce.
Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son said on Saturday that the two Communist-run countries were expecting to sign about 40 cooperation deals during Xi’s visit.
Earlier on Monday, Xi Jinping in an article posted on Vietnamese state media called for stronger ties with Vietnam on trade and supply chains.
(Reporting by Khanh Vu, Thinh Nguyen and Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
