The mutual definitions of Vietnam reflect the trade deficit and relations with China

The threat of high customs tariff rates on American imports can display the economic path of countries such as Vietnam.

Foreign direct investment has increased in Vietnam in recent years, as companies are looking for ways to manage production risk in China. Vietnam has received about $ 18.5 billion from net foreign direct investment, according to L. World Bank records That dates back to 1970.

President Donald Trump, 46 % of the “mutual” tariff rate on imported goods in the United States from Vietnam, briefly on April 9. Later that day, reinstitting tariff rates on products from countries such as Vietnam to 10 %. Countries subject to increased definitions are less than 90 days Negotiation on better commercial conditions With the White House.

“Vietnam is very weak,” said Twan Zhu, director of the RMIT University Assistant Program in Vietnam.

The tariff rates, which are likely to be partially, are based on its American trade surplus, according to Colin Hendricks, an older colleague at the Peterson International Economy Institute. The surplus of Vietnam Trade reached about $ 123.5 billion in 2024 and $ 39.5 billion in 2018According to the census office.

Part of Vietnam’s increasing exports to the United States may be redirect to evade high tariff rates. Evidence for this comes from commercial data It was collected after 2018, when an American trade war escalated China, according to a research paper from Harvard Business College.

Edmund Maleski, professor of political science at Duke University and one of the Harvard paper authors, estimates that 84 % of Vietnam’s increase in manufacturing activity was of added value. “But there is a smaller part, perhaps 16 %, depending on how it was measured, which is a reintegration, which has become a source of concern for the United States,” Maleski said.

Companies may change their international supply chains if high tariff rates on American imports come.

“This is part of the game-a-mole.”

Watch the video to see how China can use countries like Vietnam K. The side door to trade with the United States