Trump announces trade deal with Vietnam that will let US goods into country duty-free

Washington: President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Vietnam Wednesday that would allow US goods to enter the country duty-free.

Vietnamese exports to the United States, by contrast, would face a 20% levy.

On his Truth Social platform, Trump declared the pact “a Great Deal of Cooperation between our two Countries”.

In April, Trump announced a 46% tax on Vietnamese imports — one of his so-called reciprocal tariffs targeting dozens of countries with which the United States runs trade deficits.

Trump promptly suspended the reciprocal tariffs for 90 days to allow for negotiations like the one with Vietnam. The pause expires Tuesday, but so far the Trump administration has reached a trade agreement with only one of those countries — the United Kingdom. (Trump has also reached a “framework” agreement with China in a separate trade dispute.)

“Vietnam has been very keen to get out from under this,” said Mary Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.