Vietnam Leader To Lam Visits New York for Trade Deals

Vietnamese leader To Lam is traveling to New York to address the United Nations General Assembly on September 22 and attend a business conference on September 23. The visit serves as a strategic effort by the Vietnamese government to advance trade negotiations and mollify the administration of Donald Trump to avoid potential new tariffs.

During the trip, U.S. and Vietnamese corporations expect to announce approximately 29 agreements across the technology, energy, aviation, and financial sectors. In the energy sector, Petrovietnam will sign accords with Murphy Oil and Chevron, while ExxonMobil will reach an agreement with the Vietnam Refinery and Petrochemical Corporation.

In aviation, Vietjet plans to lease up to 22 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus. The airline also intends to contract Space Exploration Technologies Corp. to provide Starlink satellite internet services for 120 of its aircraft. Additional commercial agreements are expected involving Meta, Qualcomm, Visa, Mastercard, and Citibank.