On April 2, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs on imports from U.S. trade partners. This marks the largest tariff package of his presidency to date, with punishing tariffs of 30% or higher targeting several Asian economies, including China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Thailand. In particular, Vietnam was hit with a 46% tariff. “Trade deficits are failures” President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on the evening of April 6: “I have spoken with many leaders from Europe, Asia, and around the world. They are eager to make deals. And I told them—we will not tolerate a trade deficit with your country. We are not going to do it, because to me, a deficit is a failure. We will have a surplus—or at least, we won’t be losing.” He reaffirmed his plan to impose tariffs, despite growing concerns about the risk of an economic downturn. With this stance, Vietnam will have a hard time negotiating with the U.S. Trump clearly views America’s goods trade deficit as a negative, a failure (conveniently ignoring the nearly US$300 billion services trade surplus the U.S. enjoys). In his view, the deficit stems from what he sees as unfair tariff and non-tariff […]
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