WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said he had reached a trade deal with Vietnam, following weeks of intense diplomacy between the two nations and ahead of a deadline next week that would have seen higher tariffs imposed on the country’s imports.

“I just made a Trade Deal with Vietnam. Details to follow,” Mr Trump said in a Truth Social post on July 2 .

The deal with Vietnam would be just the third announced following agreements with the UK and China as trading partners race to cut agreements with the US ahead of a July 9 deadline.

Mr Trump had imposed a 46 per cent duty on Vietnam as part of his initial rollout of so-called reciprocal tariffs in early April, then pared it back to 10 per cent to allow time for negotiations.

The South-east Asian nation has seen its sales to US markets surge in recent years, partly because manufacturers shifted production there from China.

It is a major supplier of textiles and sportswear, hosting factories for companies such as Nike Inc, Gap Inc and Lululemon Athletica Inc.

Vietnam was the sixth-biggest supplier of US imports in 2024 , sending goods worth almost US$137 billion (S$174 billion), according to Census Bureau data.

The deal with Vietnam was struck after weeks of discussions during which the US pressured the country to get tougher on trade fraud, ensure stricter enforcement against the transshipment of Chinese products, and also pushed for the removal of non-tariff barriers.

Vietnam offered to remove all tariffs and repeatedly promised to purchase more American goods.

Senior Vietnamese officials flew to the US to rally support and sign deals, including for US$3 billion of agricultural goods. The trade minister also wooed executives from Nike, Gap and others to encourage them to get behind negotiation efforts.

Brands raced to move manufacturing to Vietnam over the past decade as US-China tensions escalated.

The industrial shift from China to Vietnam also helped build the kind of massive trade gap that made it a prime tariff target for Mr Trump.

In 2024, Vietnam’s trade surplus with the US was the third-largest globally on a country basis behind only China and Mexico. Shipments in May jumped 35 per cent as firms sought to get goods onto vessels as quickly as possible ahead of the deadline. BLOOMBERG

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