President Donald Trump introduced a trade deal with Vietnam on Wednesday (July 2, 2025) that would enable U.S. goods to enter the country duty-free.
Vietnamese exports to the United States, in contrast, would face a 20% levy.
On his Truth Social platform, Mr. Trump declared the pact “a Great Deal of Cooperation between our two Countries”.
In April, Mr. Trump introduced a 46% tax on Vietnamese imports — considered one of his so-called reciprocal tariffs concentrating on dozens of nations with which the United States runs trade deficits.
Mr. Trump promptly suspended the reciprocal tariffs for 90 days to permit for negotiations just like the one with Vietnam. The pause expires Tuesday (July 1, 2025), however to date, the Trump administration has reached a trade settlement with solely a kind of international locations — the United Kingdom. (Mr. Trump has additionally reached a “framework” settlement with China in a separate trade dispute.)
“Vietnam has been very eager to get out from beneath this,” said Mary Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “This is forcing a smaller country to eat it, principally. We can do that. It’s the large international locations that everyone’s holding their eyes on.”
She doubts that Mr. Trump will be able to impose such a lopsided agreement on big trading partners such as the European Union and Japan.
The United States final yr ran a $122 billion trade deficit with Vietnam. That was the third-biggest U.S. trade hole — the distinction between the goods and providers it buys from different international locations and people it sells them — behind those with China and Mexico.
In addition to the 20% tariffs, Mr. Trump mentioned the U.S. would impose a 40% tax on “transshipping” — goods from another country that stop in Vietnam on their way to the United States. Washington complains that Chinese goods have been dodging higher US tariffs by transiting through Vietnam.
In May, Vietnam approved a $1.5 billion project by the Trump Organisation and a local partner to build a massive golf resort complex near Hanoi, covering an area roughly the size of 336 football fields.
Vietnam was a beneficiary of American efforts to counter China’s influence. Companies looking to diversify their supply chains away from China flocked to Vietnam.
In 2023, it became the only country to host both President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on state visits. That year, the US upgraded Vietnam to its highest diplomatic status — comprehensive strategic partner — placing it on par with China and Russia.
