Vietnam produces world’s largest trade surplus with US, Jan data shows

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.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington: Editing ​by Neil Fullick)