The statistics figures of the first quarter showed that there were 6 markets and groups of markets that had important role in the growth rate of the country. They were the U.S, EU, China, ASEAN, Japan and South Korea.

The U.S was the country’s biggest export market in the reviewed period with nearly 20 per cent of the total. However, the country’s imports from the U.S also increased, so Vietnam got only US$ 6.4 billion of surplus in trade exchange with the U.S, compared with $ 6.7 billion in the first three months of 2016.

In the first quarter of the year, textiles and garments were leading the list of items exported by Vietnam to the U.S, accounted for 31.4 per cent of the total. It was followed by footwear of all kinds with 12.3 per cent; and wood and furniture – 7.9 per cent.

Especially, the country’s exports of cameras, camcorders and components to the U.S rocketed by 554.62 per cent to $ 7.9 million; and the exports of rubber – up by 94.18 per cent to $ 15.6 million. However, the exports of pepper decreased by 35.39 per cent to $ 65.6 million.

According to the Import and Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam is now the 12^th biggest export market and the 36^th biggest import market of the U.S.

The trade exchange between the two countries saw the annual average growth of 25 per cent. Last year, Vietnam got over $ 29.7 billion of surplus in trade exchange with the U.S.

The country’s exports of goods to the U.S increased sharply from $ 1 billion in 2001 to $ 38.46 billion in 2016 and are expected to reach over $ 40 billion this year.