Workers assemble electric cars at a Vinfast factory in Hai Phong, Vietnam, on Sept. 29, 2023.
Hau Dinh/AP
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Hau Dinh/AP
Vietnam has asked the United States to delay the April 9 implementation of sky-high tariffs announced last week in a test of how much President Trump is willing to haggle over his protectionist trade agenda.
Vietnamese Communist Party chief To Lam was one of the first world leaders to speak with Trump last week after the U.S. president announced a flurry of tariffs on almost every country that exports to the United States. Vietnam was hit with a 46% tariff rate, among the highest.
Vietnam’s economy has boomed in recent years on the back of soaring manufacturing and exports. The nation has benefited as companies have diversified supply chains in response to rising tension between Beijing and Washington in recent years.
The United States is Vietnam’s biggest export market.
On Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son met U.S. Ambassador Marc Knapper in Hanoi, according to a government dispatch. Son requested that Trump delay the enforcement of the tariffs while the two sides negotiate.
Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son at a joint news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. On Sunday, Son, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, met U.S. Ambassador Marc Knapper in Hanoi.
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