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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Trump announces a US trade deal with Vietnam | |
By Elisabeth Buchwald and Alejandra Jaramillo, CNN | |
Updated: | |
8:13 PM EDT, Wed July 2, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
Against a ticking clock, President Donald Trump said Wednesday the | |
United States has reached a trade agreement with Vietnam, pulling off | |
the administration’s third significant deal ahead of a self-imposed | |
July 9 deadline. | |
Still, the state of global trade largely remains in flux. | |
“I just made a Trade Deal with Vietnam,” Trump wrote in a | |
In a subsequent post announcing more details, Trump said the United | |
States will charge a 20% tariff for Vietnamese exports into America, | |
and a 40% tariff for “transshipping.” US Commerce Secretary Howard | |
Lutnick said in a post on X Wednesday afternoon the “transshipping” | |
tariff means “if another country sells their content through products | |
exported by Vietnam to us — they’ll get hit with a 40% tariff.” | |
The 20% tariff is double the current minimum tariff rate the US is | |
charging on goods from Vietnam and virtually every other country. | |
“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.” | |
It wasn’t immediately clear if the deal was finalized or whether | |
Vietnam had agreed to what Trump announced. Vietnam’s state-run news | |
outlet, Việt Nam News, reported that General Secretary Tô Lâm and | |
Trump spoke on the phone Wednesday to patch up the terms of the deal, | |
which it referred to as a framework. Vietnam’s US embassy did not | |
respond to CNN’s request for comment. | |
On the call, “Lâm proposed that the US soon recognize Việt Nam as | |
a market economy and lift export restrictions on certain high-tech | |
products,” the outlet reported. | |
For months, Trump and his administration have been saying countries | |
were lining up to make trade deals with the United States. But, ahead | |
of July 9, when the 90-day pause on “reciprocal” tariffs ends and | |
levies as high as 50% could go into effect, it’s been mostly | |
crickets. Restoring those historic tariffs risks rocking financial | |
markets and businesses’ plans alike. | |
Tariff rates on Vietnamese goods shipped to the US were set to rise to | |
a minimum of 46% if the rates Trump announced in April held. Tariffs | |
on Vietnam were among the highest he announced. | |
The White House has yet to publish any material laying out the details | |
of the deal Trump announced Wednesday morning. | |
“We’re still putting together the press release,” US Deputy | |
Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender told CNBC Wednesday afternoon. He | |
said that would “probably” come out by the end of the trading day | |
Wednesday, which generally refers to 4 p.m. ET. Faulkender didn’t | |
answer whether the 20% tariff would come on top of the | |
already-in-effect 10% tariff on goods from Vietnam or whether 20% | |
would be the new level. | |
Imports from Vietnam skyrocketed as tariffs on China grew | |
Vietnam was the sixth-top source of goods the US imported last year, | |
shipping $137 billion worth of goods. That’s more than double the | |
value of goods exported to the US five years prior, according to US | |
Commerce Department data. | |
Meanwhile, the trade deficit with Vietnam, equal to the value of goods | |
the US exports there minus imports, has risen in tandem. Last year, it | |
was $123 billion, the third-largest trade deficit the US had with any | |
country. Back in 2019 it was $56 billion, the fifth-largest trade | |
deficit with another country. | |
Trump has taken particular issue with countries that run large and | |
persistent trade deficits with the US, claiming they’re indicative of | |
unfair trade practices. That helps explain why he sought to impose one | |
of the highest “reciprocal” tariff rates on the country. | |
Vietnam has benefited from the higher tariffs Trump imposed on Chinese | |
goods during his first term that former President Joe Biden largely | |
kept in place. Those tariffs caused more companies to move their | |
production to Vietnam, where tariff rates were lower. | |
Among the top imports from there are computers and electronics, apparel | |
and accessories and furniture. While China remains the top imported | |
sources of these goods, Vietnam has quickly been catching up. | |
Shares of companies that have become reliant on Vietnam, including Nike | |
(), Lululemon () and Columbia Sportswear (), all jumped higher | |
immediately after Trump announced the deal. Nike and Columbia | |
Sportswear held on to their gains, and were up 4.2% and 1.3%, | |
respectively, around 3 p.m. ET. Shares of Lululemon flipped between | |
positive and negative territory Wednesday, but were up 0.7%. VF | |
Corporation (), which owns The North Face and Vans, was up 1.5%. | |
The S&P 500 was up 0.38% by mid-afternoon, hitting a new intraday | |
record, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.82%. The | |
blue-chip Dow was down 0.1% but pared earlier losses after Trump’s | |
post. | |
This is a developing story and will be updated. | |
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