Chinese President Xi Jinping kicked off a tour of Southeast Asia on Monday with a visit to Vietnam, calling for closer trade and industrial ties between Beijing and Hanoi. The visit comes at a time when China is facing 145% US tariffs, while Vietnam is trying to avoid the entry into force, in July, of new 46% US taxes following a global moratorium.
In an op-ed published in the official newspaper of the Vietnamese Communist Party, Nhandan, Xi Jinping has called for deeper cooperation in production and supply chains. He also wants to help develop trade and partnerships in areas such as artificial intelligence and the green economy.
Lately, under pressure from Washington, Vietnam has tightened controls on trade with China to ensure that products stamped “Made in Vietnam” exported to the United States incorporate sufficient domestic value-added. Hanoi is thus seeking to avoid possible sanctions for circumventing rules of origin.
Vietnam is now a key player in Southeast Asia’s manufacturing and assembly industry. While the majority of its imports come from China, the United States remains its main outlet. According to Vietnamese customs, Chinese imports reached nearly $30bn in Q1 2025, while exports to the US totaled $31.4bn – a trend that reflects the strong interdependence between these two trade flows.
Xi Jinping is staying Vietnam until 15 April, before continuing his tour in Malaysia and Cambodia, two countries also under threat from new US taxes – 24% and 49% respectively – postponed until three months from now by the moratorium. This is the Chinese President’s second visit to Hanoi in less than 18 months. China is stepping up its diplomatic relations with its Communist neighbor in order to consolidate the strategic alliance that in recent years has seen the arrival of substantial Chinese investment, notably through the relocation of factories anxious to avoid US sanctions.
According to Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister, Bui Thanh Son, some 40 agreements are expected to be signed during the presidential visit, covering various sectors. Details were not disclosed.
One of the key areas is infrastructure development, particularly railways. Vietnam is expected to use Chinese funding to build new cross-border rail links, a strategic project that should facilitate trade.
Beijing is also pushing to have its COMAC aircraft certified in Vietnam. On Sunday, Vietnamese low-cost carrier VietJet signed a memorandum of understanding with Chinese aircraft manufacturer COMAC. According to a project recently revealed by Reuters, two COMAC C909 aircraft would be leased by VietJet but operated by a Chengdu Airlines crew on domestic Vietnamese routes.
Despite increasingly strong economic cooperation, Sino-Vietnamese relations remain marked by recurrent tensions in the South China Sea. In addition, Hanoi’s concessions to Washington – notably the authorization to use Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite network and the crackdown on dubious exchanges with China – could ruffle Beijing’s feathers. CIn recent months, Vietnam has imposed anti-dumping duties on certain Chinese steel products and abolished a tax exemption on small packages, a measure designed to limit the influx of cheap goods from China.
