Vietnam is now removing all tariffs on US imports after US President Donald Trump announced a 46% levy on the southeast Asian nation, reported Bloomberg. According to a letter from Vietnam’s communist party, dated April 5, the offer was made by party chief Lam to Trump that Bloomberg claimed to have seen.
In the letter, Lam had urged the US government to not apply any additional tariffs on Vietnamese goods and also requested them to delay the implementation of tariffs by at least 45 days after April 9.
The Bloomberg report said that the letter confirmed the comments made by Trump on his Truth Social account, after having a telephonic conversation with Lam. Trump had described the talk as “very productive”.
In the letter, Lam had requested Trump to appoint a US representative to lead the talks with Ho Duc Phoc, Vietnamese deputy prime minister with the aim of reaching on an agreement soon, the New York Times reported.
The report further stated that Lam was one of the first leaders to contact Trump after the tariffs were announced. In a phone call, he offered to cut tariffs on US imports to zero and urged Trump to do the same. Vietnam has said that its tariffs on US goods average 9.4 percent.
Lam, in his letter, also expressed his desire to meet him in person in Washington. The letter said that he wanted to jointly come to an agreement for the benefit of the people of both countries and to “contribute to peace, stability and development in the region and the world”, the NYT report said.
Trump says 50 other countries eager to negotiate
It’s not just Vietnam that has reached out to Trump with an effort to minimise/delay the tariffs. According to Trump, 50 countries want to hold negotiations with the aim to lift the tariffs. Trump said that he spoke to many leaders across the globe including European and Asian, a report by Associated Press said.
He further added that all of them are “dying to make a deal. And I said, we’re not going to have deficits with your country. We’re not going to do that, because to me a deficit is a loss. We’re going to have surpluses or at worst, going to be breaking even.”
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had said that unfair trade practices are not something that can be quickly solved in a few days or weeks. He added that the United States needs to see what other countries offer and whether it’s something they can trust.