Yellen visits Vietnam, seeking to build U.S. ties and supply chains, and offset tensions with China

The U.S. considers building strong economic and security ties with Vietnam a priority, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday as she met with Vietnamese officials in a visit aimed at fortifying America's relations across Asia.

The U.S. considers building strong economic and security ties with Vietnam a priority, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday as she met with Vietnamese officials in a visit aimed at fortifying America's relations across Asia.

Yellen arrived in Vietnam after visits to Beijing and to India, where she attended financial meetings of the Group of 20 major industrial economies.

"The United States considers Vietnam a key partner in advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific," Yellen told Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, according to remarks provided by the U.S. Treasury Department.

A "free and open Indo-Pacific" refers to the latest iteration of broad U.S. diplomacy aimed at cultivating stronger ties with other countries in the region to counter China's growing sway among its neighbors.

"Vietnam is also a close economic partner, with our two-way trade reaching record highs last year and the United States serving as Vietnam's largest export market," Yellen said. "It is a priority for our administration to deepen our economic and security ties with Vietnam in the months and years to come."

Yellen briefly sat atop a bright red electric scooter during a visit to a factory in Hanoi's lush green suburbs, where Selex Motors, a five-year-old Vietnamese startup, makes EV scooters and batteries.

Climate change poses an existential threat to the world but also provides a "key economic opportunity" and way to build "greater resilience into our economies," she said, describing the facility as "impressive."