In an interview with the press about the US Treasury Department’s labeling Vietnam (and Switzerland), as a currency manipulator, Sitkoff said the American government should collaborate to seek for measures to export its products and services to Vietnam. So Vietnam can adjust trade surplus with the US for mutual benefit.

Sitkoff said that it seems that the US’s policies have resulted in international firms shifting their operations from other countries to alternative manufacturing hubs like Vietnam. The American administration should see it as an evidence of their success in diversifying supply chains in the Asia-Pacific and avoid retaliatory measures against what resulted from its policy.

Any potential action to harm Vietnam’s economy with punitive tariffs will damage the close partnership the two countries have developed, Sitkoff said.