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By making a rare second trip this year to Vietnam, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is signaling how intensively the Trump administration is trying to counter China's military assertiveness by cozying up to smaller nations in the region that share American wariness about Chinese intentions. The visit beginning Tuesday also shows how far U.S.-Vietnamese relations have advanced since the tumultuous years of the Vietnam War.
The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service recently opened a new office in Hanoi, Vietnam. The office will play a vital role in helping expand the United States' $2.5 billion agricultural export market in Vietnam.
Secretary of State John Kerry, making his last trip as the top U.S. diplomat, on Friday defended the 12-nation trade pact that the incoming administration said it would scrap and urged countries to refrain from provocative acts in the South China Sea. "I can't predict what the new administration is absolutely going to do with the trade, but I can absolutely tell you that the fundamental reasons for the TPP haven't changed," Kerry told students of University of Technology and Education in southern Ho Chi Minh City, referring to the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement.
He met with heads of state, lawmakers and a battery of dissidents, in between lifting a half-century-old trade embargo and negotiating access to key ports. By the time President Obama filed past more than 2 million people lining the streets of Ho Chi Minh City and flew to Japan aboard Air Force One on Wednesday night for a Group of Seven summit, he hadn't publicly uttered the words "Donald Trump" in days.
In this combination of images made from pool video, U.S. President Barack Obama, left, listens as Vietnamese rapper Suboi raps during a town-hall style event for the Young Southeast Asian Leadership Initiative at the GEM Center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Wednesday, May 25, 2016. Suboi rapped and asked Obama about the importance of governments promoting the arts and culture.
Barack Obama fielded questions Wednesday on everything from rap and weed smoking to his good looks at a lively meeting with young Vietnamese, who see the US leader as a far cry from their staid Communist rulers. US President Barack Obama listens as a young female rapper sings a song at a town hall event in Ho Chi Minh City The US President, on the final leg of a three-day trip to Vietnam before flying to Japan, held one of his trademark town hall gatherings with hundreds of youngsters in the country's buzzing commercial and creative capital Ho Chi Minh City.
US President Barack Obama walks on stage to meet Vietnamese youths, members of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative program at the GEM Center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 25 May 2016. EPA/DIEGO AZUBEL Ho Chi Minh City: Barack Obama fielded questions Wednesday on everything from rap and weed smoking to his good looks at a lively meeting with young Vietnamese, who see the US leader as a far cry from their staid Communist rulers.
President Barack Obama tours a high-tech displays in an open work space at the DreamPlex Coworking Space in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Tuesday, May 24, 2016. President Barack Obama tours a high-tech displays in an open work space at the DreamPlex Coworking Space in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Tuesday, May 24, 2016.
US President Barack Obama delivers a speech at the National Convention Center in Hanoi, May 24, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Barria Hanoi: US President Barack Obama told communist Vietnam on Tuesday that basic human rights would not jeopardise its stability, in an impassioned appeal for the one-party state to abandon authoritarianism.
Hanoi, May 24: After knocking down one of the last vestiges of Cold War antagonism with a former war enemy, President Barack Obama today took his push for closer ties directly to the Vietnamese people, meeting with activists and entrepreneurs. Amid the geopolitical statecraft, he faces calls to more strongly address what's seen as an abysmal human rights record.
President Barack Obama greets women at the door as he walks from the BAon chao HAE AE ng LiAan restaurant after having dinner with American Chef Anthony Bourdain in Hanoi, Vietnam, Monday, May 23, 2016. President Barack Obama greets women at the door as he walks from the BAon chao HAE AE ng LiAan restaurant after having dinner with American Chef Anthony Bourdain in Hanoi, Vietnam, Monday, May 23, 2016.
President Barack Obama is leaving on a weeklong, 16,000-mile trip to Asia as part of his effort to pay more attention to the region and boost economic and security cooperation. He'll spend three days in Vietnam, with stops in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, for meetings with top leaders, a speech on US-Vietnam relations, visits to cultural treasures and sessions with civic leaders and entrepreneurs.
Huynh Ngoc Chenh , holding a sign which reads 'Protecting the environment is more important than economic development' sits with protesters during a demonstration demanding cleaner waters in the central regions after mass fish deaths in recent weeks, in Hanoi,... Huynh Ngoc Chenh , holding a sign which reads 'Protecting the environment is more important than economic development' stands with protesters during a demonstration demanding cleaner waters in the central regions after mass fish deaths in recent weeks, in Hanoi, Vietnam... U.S. President Barack Obama waves as he returns to the White House in Washington, U.S., May 15, 2016.
In this May 13, 2016 file photo, President Barack Obama speak at the White House in Washington. When President Barack Obama talks up the benefits of new trade deals, he holds out commerce with Vietnam as an example of the potential benefits of globalization.