President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that officials have secured a trade pact with Vietnam that would leave some U.S. tariffs in place while reducing Vietnamese duties on U.S. exports.
“It is my Great Honor to announce that I have just made a Trade Deal with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam after speaking with To Lam,” Trump posted to Truth Social, referring to the general secretary of Vietnam’s Communist Party.
Neither side has published text of the agreement, but the president said the deal still leaves 20% U.S. duties in place. Vietnam is currently subject to the 10% baseline tariff, but under Trump’s April 2 reciprocal tariff plan, Vietnam had been set to face 46% duties.
Foreign-made products that have been transshipped through Vietnam without being significantly adjusted or processed and sent on to the United States will face a 40% tariff rate, Trump said in his Truth Social post. The practice is sometimes used to skirt tariffs or obscure a product’s true origin; U.S. officials have frequently complained that China is using Vietnam transshipments to circumvent U.S. duties.
In return for reducing the planned tariff rate, Vietnam will significantly reduce its own tariffs, Trump said.
“[T]hey will ‘OPEN THEIR MARKET TO THE UNITED STATES,’ meaning that, we will be able to sell our product into Vietnam at ZERO Tariff,” Trump wrote.
The Vietnamese embassy in Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond to Agri-Pulse’s request to confirm Trump’s assertion or provide further details on the tariff reductions or the deal’s contents.
Vietnamese state-run media reported Wednesday that the two sides have reached a “reciprocal, fair and balanced” trade deal. In a phone call to Trump, Lam asked for the president to recognize Vietnam as a market economy and lift curbs on high-tech exports.
Vietnam has been an increasingly important trade partner for the U.S. and has emerged as a particularly popular destination for companies relocating from China. U.S. imports and exports with the country grew 19.2% and 32.9% respectively in 2024, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Around a quarter of all U.S. exports to Vietnam in 2024 were agricultural products.
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The country a major buyer of U.S. cotton, for example, importing more than $750 million worth in 2023 and more than $500 million in 2024 – making it the third-largest export market, according to the Agriculture Department.
It is also among the 10 largest soybean buyers, taking more than $400 million annually.
If the scope of the deal is limited to tariff reductions, however, the impacts on these ag commodities could be muted. Tariffs on cotton fiber are already set to zero and cotton yarn faces a duty of just 5%, according to USDA. Similarly, soybean duties are also at 0%.
But even incremental falls in Vietnamese tariffs have led to ag export gains in recent years. The Vietnamese government trimmed tariffs on soybean meal from 2% to 1% in 2024, and U.S. soybean meal exports jumped 48%, USDA notes.
But other agricultural products could get an export boost from lower Vietnamese duties.
“Vietnam is the largest agricultural trading partner with Vietnam that does not have an FTA with them,” a USDA analysis published last year found. “As a result, U.S. agricultural products trade at a disadvantage relative to competitor countries.”
Dairy products, in particular, could have more room for growth if included in any tariff reductions. Milk products can face duties of up to 15% and powdered milk has a 10% duty, offering some room to boost U.S. competitiveness.
The Vietnam pact would constitute the second such pact inked by the administration since April 2, when the administration unveiled, and then later suspended, steep new duties on U.S. imports. The first was a framework with the United Kingdom, which also left some tariffs in place but included some additional market access for U.S. beef and ethanol exports.
The Vietnamese government also went to great lengths to ensure a smooth dealmaking process, including by fast-tracking a Trump golf course and committing to import more than $3 billion in U.S. ag products.
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