HANOI, March 13 (Reuters) - Vietnam produced the largest trade surplus with the United States in January, overtaking both Mexico and China, latest official U.S. data shows, as its exports rose sharply while Chinese direct shipments to the United States fell.
Hanoi has been negotiating a trade deal with Washington for months but no agreement has been reached because of the large trade gap and disagreements over tariff rates the U.S. wants to impose on Vietnamese goods, officials have said.
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* In January, Vietnam's trade surplus with the United Statesreached $19 billion, according to U.S. official data released onThursday. It was the biggest dollar surplus for all tradingpartners, followed by Taiwan, Mexico and China. * Hanoi's exports to the U.S. rose 53% to exceed $20 billionin January from a year earlier, the data shows, while U.S.imports from China in the same period dropped by 46%. * Vietnam's trade surplus with the U.S. has surpassedChina's since the second quarter of 2025 and was second only toMexico in the last three quarters. It reached $178 billion forall of 2025. * Vietnam's exports to the United States have been risingsteadily as higher tariffs on Chinese goods discouragedBeijing's exports. At the same time Vietnam's imports of Chinesegoods, largely for re-export, reached record levels in January,according to Vietnamese data. * The Trump administration has repeatedly accused Vietnam ofbeing a waypoint for Chinese goods directed to the UnitedStates, which face lower duties when carrying a "Made inVietnam" label. * Illegally transshipped goods are subject to U.S. tariffsof 40%, but the White House has not yet indicated its criteriato determine what can be considered as an illegal transshipment. * It has however launched this week new investigations onVietnam and other countries over possible unfair tradepractices. * Washington imposed 20% tariffs on Vietnamese goods inAugust. After the Supreme Court struck down Trump's globaltariffs as illegal in February, the White House imposed a 10%global tariff for 150 days.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington: Editing by Neil Fullick)