Trump reaches Vietnam trade deal with 20% import tariff

US President Donald Trump announced a trade agreement with Vietnam on Wednesday, a week before a July 9 reciprocal tariff deadline that would subject that country’s imports to a 20 per cent tax.

In a move largely aimed at China, goods transshipped through the Southeast Asian nation would face double that amount.

“It will be a Great Deal of Cooperation between our two Countries,” Trump announced in a morning blast on social media.

“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,” he added.

“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.”

The announced deal is the latest in advance of the self-imposed July 9 deadline Trump set in April aimed at subjecting dozens of US trading partners, whether wealthy or impoverished, to tariffs at least equal to what they charge US exporters.