Trump Announces Trade Deal with Vietnam
President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced via Truth Social that the United States has struck “a trade deal with Vietnam,” providing no further detail beyond pledging that “big announcements coming.”
The surprise declaration comes on the eve of the expiration of a 90‑day suspension of planned U.S. reciprocal tariffs on Vietnamese imports.
The Trump administration’s reciprocal tariff policy, initiated earlier this year, imposed a sweeping 46 percent tariff on goods from Vietnam. The policy was designed such that any nation running a large trade surplus with the U.S. would face equal‑sized levies. That tariff pause is set to lapse within days, reigniting pressure unless the deal brings clarity.
In 2023, America recorded a goods deficit of approximately $104.6 billion, with U.S. exports to Vietnam at about $9.8 billion and imports at $114.4 billion. Last year, that grew to a trade deficit of $123.5 billion.
While Vietnam ran a robust trade surplus of $24.8 billion in 2024, fueled by $405.5 billion in exports and $380.8 billion in imports, its trade deficit with China was $82.8 billion. As a result, dollars from the U.S. that finance purchases of goods from Vietnam get recycled into purchases of goods by Vietnam from China. Vietnam imported $144 billion of goods from China last year.
