WASHINGTON: The United States will place a lower-than-promised 20 per cent tariff on many Vietnamese exports, Donald Trump said on Wednesday (Jul 2), cooling tensions with its tenth-biggest trading partner days before the US president could raise levies on most imports.
Vietnamese goods would face a 20 per cent tariff and trans-shipments from third countries through Vietnam will face a 40 per cent levy, he said. Vietnam could import US products with a zero per cent tariff, he added.
“It is my Great Honor to announce that I have just made a Trade Deal with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” Trump said on Truth Social after speaking with Vietnam’s top leader, To Lam.
Trump’s announcement comes just days before a Jul 9 deadline before he ramps up tariffs on most imports, one of the Republican’s signature economic policies.
Under that plan, announced in April, US importers of Vietnamese goods would have had to pay a 46 per cent tariff.
Details were scant. It was not clear which products Trump’s 20 per cent tariff would apply to, or whether some would qualify for lower or higher total duties.
Also left to later discussion was how the new trans-shipment provision, aimed at products largely made in China and then labelled “Made in Vietnam”, would be implemented and enforced.
The Vietnamese government did not confirm the specific tariff levels in a statement celebrating what it described as an agreement on a joint statement about a trade framework.
Vietnam would commit to “providing preferential market access for US goods, including large-engine cars,” the government in Hanoi said.
A deal between the two countries would be a political boost for Trump, whose team has struggled to quickly close deals with Washington’s biggest trading partners ahead of the deadline.
