‘Better than expected’: Chinese firms in Vietnam upbeat over US tariff deal

Chinese manufacturers in Vietnam breathed a sigh of relief on Wednesday, after Washington and Hanoi agreed a “better than expected” trade deal that will reduce US tariffs to 20 per cent and bring an end to three months of uncertainty.

Most Chinese exporters are likely to continue operating in the Southeast Asian nation in the wake of the agreement, with firms viewing the final tariff rate as manageable, analysts and businesspeople in the country told the Post.

US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday via a social post that the United States would impose a 20 per cent tariff

on imports from Vietnam – plus a 40 per cent duty on goods deemed to be transshipped – under a new trade agreement, calling it “a great deal of cooperation between our two countries”.

The new rate is significantly lower than the 46 per cent so-called “reciprocal” tariff on Vietnamese goods that Trump announced in early April, before subsequently pausing for 90 days.

The US is still locked in trade negotiations with a slew of countries including Canada, Japan and India, after agreeing an early deal with the United Kingdom. It has also reached agreements with China over export controls

and to roll back tariffs for 90 days, though the two sides have yet to confirm a permanent deal.