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Vietnam
AsiaSoutheast Asia

Vietnam slashes tariffs on US gas, cars as Trump’s trade ‘Liberation Day’ looms

Thought to be among the Trump administration’s ‘Dirty 15’ list of trade partners, Vietnam is rushing to reduce its trade surplus with the US

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A street vendor in Hanoi walks past a poster featuring an image of US President Donald Trump in 2020. Photo: AFP
Reuters
Vietnam will cut its tariffs on several US products, the head of the Finance Ministry’s tax policy department has said.

Among the cuts, the tariff on American liquefied natural gas will be cut to 2 per cent from 5 per cent, on automobiles to 32 per cent from a range of 45 per cent to 64 per cent, and on ethanol to 5 per cent from 10 per cent, Nguyen Quoc Hung said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website late on Tuesday.

The tariff cuts are aimed at “improving trade balances with [Vietnam’s] trade partners”, Hung said, adding that the United States and Vietnam now had a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Hung said Vietnam would also remove its tariff on American ethane. He said the decree on the tariff cuts would be ready within this month and would take effect straight after.

The cuts are part of a series of measures the Southeast Asian industrial hub has flagged in recent weeks to reduce its trade surplus with Washington, which exceeded US$123 billion last year.

Flags of the United States and Vietnam sit on a table during a bilateral meeting in the US last year. Photo: Getty Images via AFP
Flags of the United States and Vietnam sit on a table during a bilateral meeting in the US last year. Photo: Getty Images via AFP
US President Donald Trump has promised an April 2 announcement on tariffs that he said would be a “Liberation Day” for the US economy. The action aims to shrink a US$1.2 trillion global goods trade deficit by raising US tariffs to levels charged by other countries and counteracting their non-tariff trade barriers.
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