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US firms urge Washington to lower tariffs on ‘valued partner’ Vietnam
8:17 CAT | 11 Jun 2025
File image of Vietnam Communist Party General Secretary To Lam. [File photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP]
US companies in Vietnam have urged the Trump administration to lower tariffs on Hanoi, according to a letter from the American Chamber of Commerce obtained by AFP Tuesday, warning the levies would hurt their business.
The Southeast Asian manufacturing hub has the third-biggest trade surplus with the United States after China and Mexico, putting it in the firing line for US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” global tariff blitz.
Threatened by Trump’s 46 percent tariff on Vietnam exports, Hanoi has tried to seek support from US tech and industry giants, and has also signed agriculture deals with Washington to ease the problem.
It was unclear who the American Chamber of Commerce addressed the letter to, but it defended the trade deficit as one that was “driven by a good investment climate, and diversification and reassessment of supply chain security and sourcing operations from China and other countries to Vietnam”.
“Vietnam has emerged as a valued partner of the United States in the context of diversifying supply chains… developing into one of America’s fastest growing export markets,” AmCham argued.
“Higher tariffs would negatively affect our members’ businesses and customers, and the broader commercial relationship between our two countries.”
Vietnam has in recent years become an emerging destination for manufacturers gradually shifting their sourcing away from China.
The United States remained Vietnam’s number one export market with $57 billion in the first five months of 2025 — up from $44 billion over the same period a year ago, according to figures published by the Hanoi-based General Statistics Office on Friday.
AmCham said in its letter that Vietnam can help to rectify the trade imbalance by opening its market to more American goods and services.
“It is time for Vietnam to expedite purchases of more American-made products,” it said.
Both sides should quickly conclude the “long-discussed deals on purchases of American aircraft, LNG and other energy infrastructure, and other products.”
“This ‘win-win’ approach is preferable to raising protectionist barriers,” it said.
Vietnam had signed several agreements worth up to $3 billion of agricultural products and other raw materials from the United States as it seeks to rebalance their trading partnership, the agriculture ministry said last week.
Trump’s real estate group also broke ground last month on a $1.5 billion luxury golf resort in Vietnam, while his son Eric Trump has been scouting locations for a potential tower project in Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s southern business hub.
Vietnamese and US trade negotiators last week met in Paris, agreeing the coming round of talks be held in the next few days.
Source: AFP
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