The US political news website POLITICO pointed out that Vietnam originally thought it had reached a tentative agreement with Washington to greatly lower tariff rates, but US President Trump raised the rate at the last minute.
POLITICO reported that although Trump claimed on social media last week that Vietnam’s leader and General Secretary of the Communist Party Trong had already agreed to the terms of the deal, four sources revealed that the Vietnamese government had not formally accepted key parts of the agreement.
Since neither the US nor Vietnam has made public any documentation outlining the details of the agreement, whether they actually reached a deal is highly questionable.
According to Trump’s post on “Truth Social” on July 2, tariffs on Vietnamese exports to the US would be reduced from 46% to 20%, while non-Vietnam-origin goods would be subject to a 40% rate. In return, Vietnam would open its market to the US.
According to the four informed sources, Trump’s announcement caused a stir in Vietnam because the Vietnamese negotiators, who never agreed to the 20% rate, had originally expected the tariff rate to be around 11%. During a call with General Secretary Trong, who didn’t take part in the initial tariff negotiations, Trump ignored the 11% rate and directly announced a nearly doubled rate.
A Washington lobbyist who works with the Vietnamese and other Asian governments said that some in the US side were also caught off guard, including external groups that had been closely following the progress of the talks.