President Donald Trump said he has made a trade deal with Vietnam, as the July 9 deadline for the end of his reciprocal tariff pause approaches.
“It will be a Great Deal of Cooperation between our two Countries,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Wednesday morning, July 2.
The administration is pushing to complete as many trade deals as possible before the deadline, when Trump is set to reimpose his high tariff rates.
Trump’s ability to complete substantive trade deals is a major test of his aggressive tariff policy, and the reimposition of levies threatens to reignite some of the original market turmoil that helped lead to the pause.
Trump Vietnam Trade Deal
The president said Vietnamese goods imports to the U.S. will face a 20 percent tariff, with a 40 percent rate “on any Transshipping,” meaning cargo that enters via an intermediary country first. The initial tariffs on imports for Vietnam announced by Trump in April were set at a minimum of 46 percent.
“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,” Trump said.
“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.”
Brendan Smialowski – Pool/Getty Images
In the post, Trump said that “Vietnam will pay the United States” the tariffs agreed.
But importers inside the U.S. will pay the tariffs to the government, a cost usually passed down to the consumer through higher prices.
In 2024, the U.S. had a $123.5 billion trade deficit with Vietnam, federal data shows. Trump views trade deficits as evidence of an unfair trading relationship.
Trump Pushes to Seal Trade Deals
Trump paused his reciprocal tariffs—individualized rates for global trading partners set at levels to reflect barriers faced by the U.S.—to give space for negotiations on better deals.
The pause, for 90 days, came as markets plunged over the potential economic fallout of the trade war Trump had unleashed.
Since then, the administration has negotiated with dozens of America’s trading partners, though only one full deal, with the U.K., has come to fruition.
The U.S. has also come to a partial deal with China, but a comprehensive agreement remains elusive.
The administration says more deals are set to be confirmed in the coming days.
One of those deals was expected to be Japan, but Trump said he doesn’t believe it will happen due to a dispute over U.S.-grown rice. Talks continue.
Trump has expressed flexibility on the July 9 deadline for countries where a deal is close.
