Vietnam to cut tariffs on U.S. imports as Trump tariff decision looms

26/3/2025 12:44

Vietnam will cut its tariffs on several U.S. products including LNG and cars, the head of the Finance Ministry's tax policy department said, as the country tries to avoid being hit with U.S. tariffs because of its large bilateral trade surplus.



The Southeast Asian industrial hub has taken a series of measures to reduce its trade surplus with Washington, which exceeded $123 billion last year, after U.S. President Donald Trump flagged wide-ranging tariffs on trading partners.



Among the cuts, the tariff on American LNG will be cut to 2% from 5%, on automobiles to 32% from a range of 45% to 64%, and on ethanol to 5% from 10%, Nguyen Quoc Hung said in a statement posted on the ministry's website late on Tuesday.



Hung said, the tariff cuts are aimed at "improving trade balances with (Vietnam)'s trade partners," adding that while the U.S. and Vietnam had a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership the countries had not signed a free-trade agreement.



Vietnam has not yet imported LNG from the U.S., but the country has been in talks with U.S. suppliers for its future fleet of LNG power plants, the first two of which are scheduled to start commercial power generation by June this year.