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US President Donald Trump had a productive call with Vietnam’s General Secretary To Lam, who expressed interest in reducing tariffs to zero if an agreement with the US is reached.
Donald Trump said he spoke to Vietnamese counterpart To Lam who agreed to slash tax on imports from the US to 0%. (IMAGE: REUTERS)
US President Donald Trump said Vietnam’s top leader told him in a “very productive” call Friday that he wanted to make a deal on tariffs, after the southeast Asian nation was hit by huge 46 percent levies.
“Just had a very productive call with To Lam, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, who told me that Vietnam wants to cut their Tariffs down to ZERO if they are able to make an agreement with the US,” Trump said on Truth Social.
The Southeast Asian nation was hammered with a thumping 46 percent tariff in President Donald Trump’s global trade blitz.
The Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính had set up a “rapid response team” and had said that his deputy Ho Duc Phoc would head to the United States for a “working visit”.
According to data from the US Trade Representative website, the United States imported $136.6 billion worth of goods from Vietnam last year, representing nearly 30 percent of its GDP.
Ahead of Trump’s announcement, Vietnam had cut imports duties on a large number of goods from liquefied gas and some agricultural products to cars but despite that Trump slapped a 46% tariff on Vietnamese goods entering the US to retaliate against the 90% tariffs it imposed on American goods.
It also announced that it would allow Elon Musk’s SpaceX to launch its Starlink satellite internet service in a pilot programme running to 2030.
But the Trump administration was too angered by what it sees as Vietnam’s role in attempts to get around tariffs imposed on China, according to analysts speaking to news agency AFP.
- Location :
Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
