President Donald Trump, via Truth Social on Wednesday, said that he has personally negotiated a new trade deal with Vietnam. The deal includes a 20 percent tariff on goods coming from Vietnam and a 40 percent tariff on transshipping, or goods shipped through Vietnam from other countries.
The Vietnamese have agreed to allow increased access to their market so that the United States can sell more goods in Vietnam.
Perhaps the most striking detail is that the U.S. will be able to sell goods to Vietnam at a zero percent tariff rate, according to the president.
His Truth message said, “It will be a Great Deal of Cooperation between our two Countries … In return, Vietnam will do something that they have never done before, give the United States of America TOTAL ACCESS to their Markets for Trade. In other words, they will ‘OPEN THEIR MARKET TO THE UNITED STATES,’ meaning that we will be able to sell our product into Vietnam at ZERO Tariff.”
Trump went on to say in his Truth message, “It is my opinion that the SUV … will be a wonderful addition to the various product lines within Vietnam. Dealing with General Secretary To Lam, which I did personally, was an absolute pleasure. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
The transshipping piece of the deal was especially important to the White House due to the common practice of Chinese companies shipping their goods into Vietnam for sale into the U.S. at a lower tariff rate than if they were directly exported. The goal is for transshipment to be greatly reduced.
The exact breakdown of the Vietnam trade deal and the timing of when it will go into effect are yet unknown. The president has said that if trade deals are not made by July 9, reciprocal tariffs will go into place for a large number of countries.
Markets have generally been responding positively to President Trump’s trade deals and the expected upcoming Republican budget reconciliation, or the Big Beautiful Bill, as the president has named it.
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