President Trump announces trade deal with Vietnam. Vietnam to pay 20% tariffs on all exports to the U.S., plus 40% on transshipped goods. In return, U.S. exporters face 0% tariffs entering Vietnam.

President Trump announced a trade deal with Vietnam on July 2 that slaps a 20% tariff on every Vietnamese product shipped to the United States and a 40% tariff on goods transshipped through Vietnam. In return, Vietnam agreed to impose 0% tariffs on all American goods entering its market. That includes cars, meat, grain, and industrial equipment. This arrangement is now locked.

Vietnam ranked third behind China and Mexico in trade deficit size last year. The U.S. racked up a 122 billion dollar deficit with Hanoi in 2024. The Trump administration used that imbalance as leverage and pushed hard. The Vietnamese government accepted the structure. State media confirmed signatures and the removal of tariffs on American imports effective immediately.

BREAKING: President Trump announces “trade deal” with Vietnam which includes Vietnam paying the US 20% tariffs on all goods sent to the US and 40% tariffs on transshipping.

Trump says that Vietnam will “in return” impose 0% tariffs on US products sold in Vietnam. pic.twitter.com/dVdDZLlVaw

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) July 2, 2025

Transshipping is the focal point. Washington suspects Chinese firms are routing goods through Vietnamese ports to bypass existing tariffs. The new 40% rate is meant to sever that channel. It is the steepest transshipment penalty ever placed on an active trade partner by the United States.

The deal was struck under Trump’s “90 in 90” campaign, which aims to sign ninety bilateral trade deals in ninety days. This is the third confirmed deal since the rollout. The first two were with the United Kingdom and China. Vietnam is the first agreement built explicitly around tariff asymmetry.

General Secretary To Lam met with Trump twice in June. Their second meeting, in Singapore, ended with the framework terms finalized and approved by both delegations. Vietnam had requested a review of its market economy status and a loosening of tech export restrictions. No statement has been made by Washington on those points.

Vietnamese fruit, apparel, electronics, and seafood will now pay tariffs. American machinery, vehicles, soy, wheat, and liquefied gas will enter freely. The Vietnamese prime minister says the deal provides “clarity and openness” to industrial exporters. Trump called it “total victory for fair trade” in his statement.