Chinese factories in Vietnam see ‘crazy’ surge in orders amid US tariff pause

US businesses are putting factories in Vietnam under pressure to front-load as many shipments as possible within the 90-day window

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Factories in Vietnam face huge uncertainty as Hanoi tries to convince Washington to scale back its proposed tariffs on Vietnamese imports. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 11:00am, 15 Apr 2025

Jayson Wu, the Chinese owner of a furniture factory in Hanoi, has been working flat out ever since US President Donald Trump abruptly paused his so-called “reciprocal” tariff policy on Wednesday.

Wu’s business had ground to a halt ahead of the duties coming into force, as almost all his US clients scrapped their orders. Now, those clients are back – and demanding Wu ship as many cabinets as possible within the 90-day window.

“I’d lost a lot of business when the tariffs hit, then overnight the orders came flooding back,” said Wu, who relocated his factory to Vietnam in 2019 to avoid US anti-dumping duties targeting China.

“My American clients returned with a lot of front-loading demands – they’re very scared Trump could come up with something crazy in the next 90 days.”

Many other exporters in Vietnam share Wu’s sense of whiplash, as the country’s giant export sector scrambles to adapt to Trump’s unpredictable tariff policies.

The Southeast Asian nation has found itself in Washington’s crosshairs in recent months, as it runs a large bilateral trade surplus with the United States and has also seen an influx of Chinese investment from companies looking to relocate production and transship goods to avoid US tariffs.