Trump’s New Trade Deal Has a Clear Winner: Vietnam
In the lead-up to the “Liberation Day” tariff announcement in April, President Donald Trump often stressed the importance of reciprocity. He claimed that raising tariffs on imports from foreign countries was about fairness—and that America would drop tariffs if other countries agreed to do the same.
After the announcement of a new trade deal with Vietnam, we can safely conclude that Trump was not telling the truth about that.
Under the terms of that deal, announced Wednesday, American exports to Vietnam will face no tariffs while Vietnamese goods imported into the United States will face tariffs of between 20 percent and 40 percent. The higher rate is reserved for goods that are shipped through Vietnam from other origins. (The exact details of the deal are reportedly still being hammered out.)
Vietnam is giving the United States “TOTAL ACCESS to their Markets for Trade,” Trump wrote on Truth Social as he announced the deal. “We will be able to sell our product into Vietnam at ZERO Tariff.”
That’s great, but what happened to reciprocity and fairness?
Most of the trade between America and Vietnam is flowing in one direction. In 2024, America exported just $13 billion worth of goods to Vietnam but imported more than $136 billion worth of stuff from there. The U.S. was the top export market for Vietnamese goods, which include a wide range of products like electronics, industrial machinery, household goods, clothing, shoes,
Article from Reason.com
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