US slaps import duties of more than 400 per cent on Vietnamese steel to prevent companies exploiting loophole
- The US is hardening its rhetoric against Vietnam, which has benefited from President Donald Trump’s trade war with China
- Trump described Vietnam last week as ‘almost the single-worst abuser of everybody’ when asked if he wanted to impose tariffs
Vietnam has a new partner in its old rivalry with China – the US
Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
It was not surprising companies would try to route products through countries such as Vietnam to dodge higher duties, said Robert Carnell, Asia-Pacific chief economist at ING Bank.
“It’s a no-brainer,” he said. “You increase the cost and people are going to try and find a way to avoid it. It’s human nature.”
You increase the cost and people are going to try and find a way to avoid it
Vietnam says it’s working to reduce its trade surplus with the US, and is already cracking down on Chinese manufacturers who are re-routing their goods via the Southeast Asian nation for export to the US in order to bypass higher tariffs.
The US Embassy in Hanoi said this week it’s in talks with authorities and hopes “Vietnam takes steps in the near term to address our concerns in a constructive manner.”
Vietnam’s annual trade surplus with the US has exceeded US$20 billion since 2014 and reached US$39.5 billion last year, the highest in records going back to 1990, according to US Census Bureau data.
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