11% Becomes 20%: US Media Reveals Vietnam Did Not Agree to Tariff Rates Announced by Trump

According to a report by Jinse Finance, Vietnam initially believed it had reached a preliminary agreement with the United States that would significantly lower tariff levels. However, at the last moment, Trump raised the tariff rates. As a result, the Vietnamese government has yet to formally accept the key parts of the agreement that Trump claimed on social media last week, even though Trump asserted that these terms had been approved by Vietnam’s leaders. According to Trump’s post on July 2, the US will impose a 20% tariff on Vietnamese exports to the US, and the rate could reach as high as 40% if “transshipment” is involved. In exchange, Vietnam would open its market to the US. This caused a stir in Vietnam, as their negotiators had not actually agreed to a 20% tariff rate. Four sources familiar with the matter revealed that they expected the tariff rate to be around 11%. During a phone call with Vietnamese leaders, Trump disregarded this figure and instead announced that the US would impose tariffs nearly double the originally anticipated rate. This even shocked the US lobbyists working on bilateral cooperation. “Trump caught everyone off guard,” one lobbyist said. So far, neither the White House nor Vietnam has released any documents indicating that the final agreement includes these tariff rates, and neither country has formally signed the agreement. (Politico)