1. The following excerpts are taken from an AP News report from Hanoi, Vietnam, dated 3rd July, by Paul Wiseman and Aniruddha Ghosal:
(Begin excerpts)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Vietnam Wednesday that would allow U.S. goods to enter the country duty-free.
Vietnamese exports to the United States, by contrast, would face a 20% levy.
On his Truth Social platform, Trump declared the pact “a Great Deal of Cooperation between our two Countries.’'....
“Vietnam has been very keen to get out from under this,’' said Mary Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. ”This is forcing a smaller country to eat it, basically. We can do that. It’s the big countries that everybody’s keeping their eyes on.’' She doubts that Trump will be able to impose such a lopsided agreement on big trading partners such as the European Union and Japan.
The United States last year ran a $122 billion trade deficit with Vietnam. That was the third-biggest U.S. trade gap — the difference between the goods and services it buys from other countries and those it sells them — behind the ones with China and Mexico.
In addition to the 20% tariffs, Trump said the U.S. would impose a 40% tax on “transshipping’’ — goods from another country that stop in Vietnam on their way to the United States. Washington complains that Chinese goods have been dodging higher U.S. tariffs by transiting through Vietnam.
William Reinsch, a former U.S. trade official now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the significance of the transshipment crackdown will depend on “how the term is defined and enforced. Some transshipment is outright fraud – simply changing the label; some is a legitimate substantial transformation in Vietnam into a new product; and there is a lot in between. Enforcement is always complicated.’'....
In May, Vietnam approved a $1.5 billion project by the Trump Organization and a local partner to build a massive golf resort complex near Hanoi, covering an area roughly the size of 336 football fields.
Vietnam was a beneficiary of American efforts to counter China’s influence. Companies looking to diversify their supply chains away from China flocked to Vietnam.... (End excerpts)
Source Link: https://apnews.com/article/trump-trade-tariff-vietnam-exports-china-a1a0725198d10ef240398f2dec3a6c23
2. Poster's Comment:
Vietnam will be a dumping ground for duty-free low-end, undesired US products (Mostly agricultural products and out-of-date technology, not high-tech or the super computer chips sought by China). Most Vietnamese cannot afford to buy US products, even though they are duty-free, because they are comparatively more expensive than the local and other Asian products. As Vietnam cannot "absorb" all the US products, it will try to "push" them across the borders to neighbouring countries, particularly China. Some Vietnamese may try to make some money by smuggling the duty-free US products across to China. Then China will also have to build a "big, beautiful" wall along its southern border just like the wall along the US-Mexican border.
The US has long complained about China using Mexico to circumvent US tariffs on Chinese products. America's lopsided agreement with Vietnam is the same trick in reverse, making Vietnam the "Mexico of Asia", that is, America's backdoor to other Asian markets, particularly China. The US leader has renamed Gulf of Mexico to "Gulf of America" among his 1st executive orders. China can do likewise by renaming Gulf of Tonkin either to Gulf of Nankin or Gulf of Hainan.
Vietnam may think its economy could still flourish under the 20% tariffs. It should send investigators to some "lucky" countries to find out how the people there are struggling for survival under the impact of the minimum 10% levy. Then it will awaken to reality that its good old days have gone forever.
While the White House incumbent criticizes US companies for not shifting production back to the country, he himself is not practising what he preaches. He should have built a Trump Tower and a "big, beautiful" golf course in every US city to provide "hig, beautiful" jobs for his countrymen. Instead, he prefers to expand his family business overseas. His mega-project in Vietnam is targeting mainly at rich Chinese nationals from the mainland. Despite calling his Chinese counterpart a "king" during his visit to China, Mr Nice Guy has been trying to strangle the Chinese economy by hook or by crook. Hence China should ban all its citizens from patronising Mr Nice Guy's business establishments in Vietnam or elsewhere.
Additional Reference:
www.bbc.com
www.voanews.com
abcnews.go.com
www.scmp.com
www.scmp.com
(Begin excerpts)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Vietnam Wednesday that would allow U.S. goods to enter the country duty-free.
Vietnamese exports to the United States, by contrast, would face a 20% levy.
On his Truth Social platform, Trump declared the pact “a Great Deal of Cooperation between our two Countries.’'....
“Vietnam has been very keen to get out from under this,’' said Mary Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. ”This is forcing a smaller country to eat it, basically. We can do that. It’s the big countries that everybody’s keeping their eyes on.’' She doubts that Trump will be able to impose such a lopsided agreement on big trading partners such as the European Union and Japan.
The United States last year ran a $122 billion trade deficit with Vietnam. That was the third-biggest U.S. trade gap — the difference between the goods and services it buys from other countries and those it sells them — behind the ones with China and Mexico.
In addition to the 20% tariffs, Trump said the U.S. would impose a 40% tax on “transshipping’’ — goods from another country that stop in Vietnam on their way to the United States. Washington complains that Chinese goods have been dodging higher U.S. tariffs by transiting through Vietnam.
William Reinsch, a former U.S. trade official now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the significance of the transshipment crackdown will depend on “how the term is defined and enforced. Some transshipment is outright fraud – simply changing the label; some is a legitimate substantial transformation in Vietnam into a new product; and there is a lot in between. Enforcement is always complicated.’'....
In May, Vietnam approved a $1.5 billion project by the Trump Organization and a local partner to build a massive golf resort complex near Hanoi, covering an area roughly the size of 336 football fields.
Vietnam was a beneficiary of American efforts to counter China’s influence. Companies looking to diversify their supply chains away from China flocked to Vietnam.... (End excerpts)
Source Link: https://apnews.com/article/trump-trade-tariff-vietnam-exports-china-a1a0725198d10ef240398f2dec3a6c23
2. Poster's Comment:
Vietnam will be a dumping ground for duty-free low-end, undesired US products (Mostly agricultural products and out-of-date technology, not high-tech or the super computer chips sought by China). Most Vietnamese cannot afford to buy US products, even though they are duty-free, because they are comparatively more expensive than the local and other Asian products. As Vietnam cannot "absorb" all the US products, it will try to "push" them across the borders to neighbouring countries, particularly China. Some Vietnamese may try to make some money by smuggling the duty-free US products across to China. Then China will also have to build a "big, beautiful" wall along its southern border just like the wall along the US-Mexican border.
The US has long complained about China using Mexico to circumvent US tariffs on Chinese products. America's lopsided agreement with Vietnam is the same trick in reverse, making Vietnam the "Mexico of Asia", that is, America's backdoor to other Asian markets, particularly China. The US leader has renamed Gulf of Mexico to "Gulf of America" among his 1st executive orders. China can do likewise by renaming Gulf of Tonkin either to Gulf of Nankin or Gulf of Hainan.
Vietnam may think its economy could still flourish under the 20% tariffs. It should send investigators to some "lucky" countries to find out how the people there are struggling for survival under the impact of the minimum 10% levy. Then it will awaken to reality that its good old days have gone forever.
While the White House incumbent criticizes US companies for not shifting production back to the country, he himself is not practising what he preaches. He should have built a Trump Tower and a "big, beautiful" golf course in every US city to provide "hig, beautiful" jobs for his countrymen. Instead, he prefers to expand his family business overseas. His mega-project in Vietnam is targeting mainly at rich Chinese nationals from the mainland. Despite calling his Chinese counterpart a "king" during his visit to China, Mr Nice Guy has been trying to strangle the Chinese economy by hook or by crook. Hence China should ban all its citizens from patronising Mr Nice Guy's business establishments in Vietnam or elsewhere.
Additional Reference:
Trump announces US-Vietnam trade deal
The US plans to charge 20% tariffs on Vietnamese goods - less than half the rate set to go into effect next week.
www.bbc.com
China's backdoor to US markets may be closing soon
President Donald Trump's 25% tariff on imports from Mexico to begin Tuesday will hit Chinese companies operating in Mexico
www.voanews.com
Trump renames Gulf of Mexico to 'Gulf of America' among 1st executive orders
During his January press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump declared he would change the name, saying it’s currently run by cartels and that "it’s ours."
Is Vietnam playing Trump’s game? Billions in property deals suggest so
Critics question the long-term economic benefit of luxury towers and golf courses for Vietnam, fuelling speculation about a quid pro quo.
www.scmp.com
Donald Trump reveals he called Xi Jinping ‘king’ – and says Xi liked it
US president recalls remark on eve of resumption of talks seeking a deal to end the US-China trade war, but China is unlikely to take Trump’s rhetoric ‘too seriously’ says expert.
www.scmp.com
