HANOI, June 11, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Vietnam has sought to enlist major US garment companies including Gap and Levi Strauss as it tries to head off President Donald Trump's threatened 46 percent trade tariff.

The country, a major producer of clothing and footwear for international brands, has the third-biggest trade surplus with the United States after China and Mexico, making it a target for Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff blitz in April.

Officials have been locked in talks with their US counterparts to avoid being hit, seeking support from American tech giants and signing agriculture deals with Washington to ease the problem.

On a visit to the United States, Vietnam's minister of industry and trade Nguyen Hong Dien on Monday met leaders from the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) and leading brands Gap, Levi Strauss, and Under Armour.

The United States was Vietnam's number one export market with $57 billion in the first five months of 2025 -- up from $44 billion over the same period a year ago.

Textiles and footwear were among the leading products sent to American clients.

A trade ministry statement posted online late Tuesday said Dien wanted to cement Vietnam's willingness "to be a reliable partner in the global supply chain".

"Cooperation with Vietnam will bring long-term strategic benefits and contribute to improving the trade balance in a fair, harmonious and sustainable direction between the two countries," he was quoted as saying.

Dien also met Jeffrey Perlman, the head of Warburg Pincus Investment Fund, the statement said.

When announcing his raft of levies in April, Trump claimed Vietnam charged the United States a 90 percent tariff, which was based on Hanoi's trade surplus of $123.5 billion last year.

His administration also appeared particularly angry about what it sees as the Asian nation's role in attempts to get around tariffs imposed on China.

But given Vietnam's vital role in global supply chains, many parties -- including US companies in the country -- have urged the White House to walk back the tariffs.

Vietnamese and US trade negotiators held their latest round of talks in Paris last week, and are scheduled to meet again in the next few days.

Hanoi last week signed several agreements worth up to $3 billion of agricultural products and other raw materials from the United States as it sought to rebalance their trading partnership.

Trump's real estate group also broke ground last month on a $1.5 billion luxury golf resort in Vietnam, while his son Eric has been scouting locations for a potential tower project in Ho Chi Minh City, the country's southern business hub.