Trump says releasing Vietnam trade deal details doesn’t matter as it is ‘pretty well set’
The US president said the pact was nearly complete but details remained scarce, sparking questions on transshipment rules
The US president announced earlier this month that he had struck a preliminary trade deal with the Communist country, which would cut planned US tariffs on imports from Vietnam to 20 per cent from the 46 per cent level he had threatened in April.
At the time, Trump also said goods that Washington deemed to be illegally transshipped through Vietnam to other countries would be subject to a 40 per cent levy.
The agreement has not been finalised and details have not been released, leaving questions over how Washington will define an illegal transshipment and how much value Vietnam must add to imported products to avoid the 40 per cent tariff. It also remains unclear which products would fall under Trump’s 20 per cent tariff.
Vietnam has not confirmed the specific tariff rates, celebrating what it described as an agreement on a joint statement about a trade framework.