Vietnam said it is open to removing all tariffs on US imports on Saturday as it joined a growing list of clothing and footwear manufacturing hubs across Asia including Indonesia, India and Cambodia seeking to dodge the hefty duties Donald Trump announced last week.
Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement stunned the fashion industry as many of the highest levies hit major fashion sourcing destinations such as Vietnam, which is second only to China in its clothing and footwear exports to the US and is a key supplier to sports brands such as Nike. A number of Asian countries have since said they will not retaliate and are seeking to negotiate in order to avoid the tariffs, which are scheduled to take effect on April 9.
In an April 5 letter seen by Bloomberg, To Lam, the head of Vietnam’s communist party, signalled his readiness to drop all duties on US imports and asked that Trump delay his 46 percent tariff on Vietnamese imports by 45 days.
Indonesia, Cambodia, India, Taiwan and Malaysia have also said they’re not taking retaliatory action and signaled their willingness to negotiate, according to media reports. Malaysia has disputed the US calculation of its barriers to US imports and called for Southeast Asian nations to coordinate a regional response.
China — the largest source of fashion and footwear sold in the US — has taken a hard line, meanwhile, striking back with tariffs of its own Friday.
How much flexibility Trump will show on tariffs remains to be seen. On Sunday, US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said in an interview with CBS that the tariffs will not be postponed and will remain in place for “days and weeks.” Trump, however, has at times delayed or reversed course on tariffs in the past when trade partners offered concessions.
Learn more:
Executive Memo | An Action Plan for Navigating Trump’s Tariffs
US President Donald Trump’s tariff actions are raising costs for fashion businesses and throwing supply chains into disarray. As his administration prepares a new wave of duties, and other nations retaliate with tariffs of their own, executives have a variety of measures at their disposal to mitigate the impact, from pricing, sourcing and product strategies to financial actions.
