Sharing with Hanoitimes, Mr Raymond Burghardt – U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam (2001-2004) said: “I am glad that he will visit the White House and meet our new President.  US - Vietnam relations have steadily strengthened over the past 20 years, moving from resolving legacy issues left from the war to developing a strong economic relationship and, lastly, to developing the trust to be able to cooperate on security issues.  I am sure that President Trump and PM Phuc will discuss how to further strengthen our economic times, despite the fact that the US will not be joining TPP, and also will discuss regional issues including challenges posed by North Korea and the situation in the South China Sea.”

Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (C) addresses a regional summit in Hanoi, Vietnam in October 2016.

Commenting on the visit with Hanoitimes, Mr Larry Berman, Professor Emeritus at UC Davis said: "This is the earliest that any Vietnamese Prime Minister has visited a new American president and most significant is that the Prime Minister’s visit is the one of the first from any ASEAN leader."
“It’s too early to know for sure if the meeting will produce, but by agreeing to the meeting President Trump is signaling his intent to discuss trade, balance of payments and China relations. With President Trump attending the November APEC Summit in Vietnam, his staff obviously see the advantage of clearing away the underbrush sooner rather than later.”, Berman said about the upcoming meeting between two leaders.
About the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Professor Berman said, the deal could be mentioned or not during the visit. However, the more important thing is that Vietnam and the US can negotiate their own agreement.
A recent survey by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore that polled government officials, business representatives, academics, and journalists in Southeast Asia found that around 75% of the respondents saw China, not the U.S., as the most influential player now and in the next decade. Two-thirds of respondents also viewed the U.S. less favorably than four months ago, according to the survey.
Bilateral delegation exchanges of Vietnam and U.S. increased in recent years. Vietnamese leaders visiting the U.S. included Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (July 2015), National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung (September 2015), President Truong Tan Sang (September 2015), and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (February 2016). There have also been many US delegations touring Vietnam such President Barack Obama with the trip to on May 2016, Secretary of State John Kerry (January 2017), and Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter (June 2015).
Over the past years, the U.S. has become one of the leading trade partners of Vietnam. Bilateral trade has continually grown by about 20 percent each year. Despite a trade deficit with Vietnam, the US has enjoyed a rapid export growth rate of 77 % annually, four times higher than the growth of Vietnam’s shipments to the US.
On the edge of the visit, Vietnam’s Spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang answered international and domestic correspondents: “The visit aims to enhance and deepen Vietnam relation with big partners, big countries including U.S. Vietnam pays resistant respect to the relation with U.S and ready to cooperate with President Donald Trump’s government on development of previous achievements along with promoting further cooperation.The developing path based on guidelines of comprehensive partner relation (2013), statement of joint vision during the visit of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (2015) and Vietnam-U.S joint statement during the visit of President Barack Obama to Vietnam in 2016.”