As US-Vietnam trade negotiations began, Vietnam's Ministry of Trade denounced Trump's “equal tariffs” as unreasonable

The Zhitong Finance App learned that when Vietnam and the US government began bilateral trade negotiations, the Trump administration's so-called “equal tariffs” were unreasonable. The department requested Vietnamese domestic companies and associations to send letters to officials in US trade departments to complain about the Trump-led tariff policy towards Vietnam, and expressed support for long-term cooperation with US partners to seek their support in maintaining the normal circulation of Vietnamese goods to the US.

According to a post on the department's official website, at an important meeting on Thursday, Vietnam's Ministry of Trade requested domestic companies and associations to send letters to some US officials to complain about the tariff rate levied on Vietnam by the Trump administration. The post also said that the Ministry of Trade has directed these groups and enterprises to cooperate actively and for a long time with US companies to seek support from the American public and most politicians, so as to maintain the normal trade flow of Vietnamese goods to the US market.

Vietnam was one of the first countries to announce trade negotiations with the US. Currently, Vietnam, which is extremely dependent on export trade, is facing the highest tariffs imposed on the country by US President Donald Trump. Trump believes he can use this move to revive the American manufacturing industry, which has been emigrated in recent decades.

When Trump announced the global equal tariff policy on April 2, he announced that he would levy tariffs of up to 46% on Vietnam, then temporarily lower the tariffs to 10% for a period of 90 days to allow time for trade negotiations. On Thursday, Trump vigorously promoted the first trade cooperation agreement with Britain, but the agreement appears to be far from being “comprehensive” as he promised, and many key details still require further negotiations.

The Trump administration has decided to levy an amazing tariff of up to 145% on China (one of America's top three trading partners), and temporarily exempt most countries from aggressive equal tariffs within 90 days and instead levy a benchmark tariff of at least 10% on these countries. As a result, many forecasters warn that the global economy will slow sharply in the future, and some even predict that the US will experience a deep recession this year.

On Wednesday, the Vietnamese government said it has instructed domestic enterprises to purchase more high-value and more advanced imported goods from the US in large quantities in order to avoid the high punitive tariffs imposed on Vietnamese products by the US, the most important export market.

According to this post on the official website, at Thursday's meeting, Vietnam's Ministry of Trade requested data from companies and associations to prove that Vietnamese exports meet all requirements of the US government regarding goods manufactured in Vietnam.

The post also pointed out that Vietnam's Ministry of Trade required local companies to find alternative export markets other than the US, and mentioned that Vietnam has signed a number of trade agreements with several major global economies.