U.S. Inks Trade Deal With Vietnam While Raising Tariffs On Japan, South Korea

Last week, President Donald Trump announced that U.S. negotiators had reached a trade deal with Vietnam. Under the draft agreement, U.S. goods entering Vietnam reportedly will not be subject to tariffs, while Vietnamese imports coming into the United States will be assessed a 20 percent tariff, down from 46 percent rate President Trump had announced in April.

Goods from other countries that transit through Vietnam en route to the United States will be subject to a 40 percent tariff. That provision is meant to prevent circumvention of trade rules by countries like China. As such, the Chinese government quickly reacted to the deal. According to The Hill, a spokesperson for the country’s Ministry of Commerce said, “China firmly opposes any deal made at the expense of China’s interests in exchange for so-called tariff exemptions.”

Meanwhile, as Yahoo Finance reported, “Time has run out for some U.S. trade partners looking to make deals ahead of President Trump’s July 9 deadline for tariffs to snap back to higher levels.” The Trump administration reportedly started sending out letter last Friday, July 4 and yesterday, July 7 alerting countries of that their increased tariff rates will be effective Aug. 1, 2025.

According to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, approximately 100 U.S. trade partners would likely see a minimum “reciprocal” rate of 10 percent starting this week. More specifically, on Monday it was revealed that the U.S. government will impose 25 percent tariff rates on goods from Japan and South Korea. That policy will go into effect Aug. 1, 2025. Read more from Supply Chain Dive and The Hill and please stay tuned to Connecting the Dots as this story develops.