Chinese President Xi Jinping this week signed nearly four dozen deals with Vietnamese leader To Lam in what some believe is a move to skirt soaring U.S. tariffs.
President Donald Trump condemned their partnership as an attempt by the two Asian leaders to find a way to “screw” the U.S.
“I don’t blame China, I don’t blame Vietnam,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “That’s a lovely meeting. They’re meeting, like, trying to figure out, ‘How do we screw the United States of America?’”
The content of the newest agreements between China and Vietnam remains unclear, though reporting this week suggested they included deals to enhance supply chains, customs inspections and cooperation over railway systems.
TRUMP SAYS SPECIFIC TARIFF WILL BE PLACED ON SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY, RATE TO BE ANNOUNCED WITHIN WEEK
Trump escalated his trade war with Beijing this month by slapping a 145% tariff on all imports from China, the world’s second-largest economy, sparking concern over a massive decoupling that could drive up prices on everything from electronics to machinery and toys.
The White House over the weekend then amended tariffs on smartphones and computer equipment, and for now, those fees will remain at 20%, though Trump has said new tariffs on semiconductors would be coming.
China has responded by hitting Washington with its own 125% reciprocal tariffs on U.S. imports, deepening concerns over how the trade war will impact American wallets, companies, local economies and the U.S.’ standing on the global stage.
Vietnam also found itself a top target in Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, which saw at least a 10% tariff rate slapped on essentially every U.S. trading partner.
While many nations, particularly the EU and Canada, were hit with steep tariffs targeting both their exports and key industries, none were hit harder than Vietnam. The country now faces a blanket 46% tariff on all goods shipped to the U.S. market.
WHITE HOUSE TRADE CHIEF SAYS TRUMP HAS NO PLANS TO SPEAK WITH XI JINPING ABOUT TARIFF WAR
“Chairman Xi Jinping is trying to use his trip to Southeast Asia to disingenuously portray China as the responsible stakeholder in the global trade system that the United States built,” Isaac Stone Fish, CEO and founder of Strategy Risks, a business intelligence firm that focuses on China, told Fox News Digital, also referencing Xi’s other travel plans to Cambodia and Malaysia this week.
“Beijing and Chinese companies are looking for ways to skirt U.S. tariffs by exporting to Vietnam and other countries in Southeast Asia,” Stone Fish said.
Vietnam has reportedly been looking to bolster relations with Washington in an attempt to lessen tariffs on Hanoi by tightening controls on its trade with China.
A report by Reuters this week suggested it could be doing this, in part, by cracking down on its “Made in Vietnam” labeling after the Ministry of Industry and Trade directed companies to better regulate the origins of goods and materials in a move to tackle fraud, though it remains unclear what sort of checks Hanoi will run on individual exporters to ensure quality control.
Stone Fish argued that, given the immense amount of trade between China and Vietnam, Chinese companies will likely look for ways to get their products to the U.S. and skirt tariffs.
“Some Chinese companies are looking to exploit tariff loopholes and use Southeast Asia for the transshipment of goods to the United States,” he said. “How do they do it? Sometimes they’ll have multiple sets of books, or misclassify items, or ship items through Vietnam for minor processing before labeling them as Vietnamese goods.
“Customs agents work hard to try and restrict these kinds of shipments from coming into the United States, and American and global companies need to be very careful to ensure they don’t inadvertently aid or participate in tariff evasion,” he added.
Following the initial trade war that sparked under Trump’s first term, manufacturers in China like Foxconn and Luxshare Precision Industry Co., which provide parts for American companies like Apple, moved across the border into Vietnam in a move to circumvent tariffs, Bloomberg reported.
Trump has said his push to hit nations with unprecedented tariffs is an attempt to force American companies to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., though some experts have argued this is not something that can happen quickly.
The U.S. in 2023 was Vietnam’s largest export market, with China coming second, though Hanoi imports more products from China than any other nation, making it unclear to what extent products exported to the U.S. are made using goods imported from Beijing.
The White House did not answer Fox News Digital’s questions over whether it would take retaliatory measures against Vietnam for entering into additional agreements with China.
Instead, a White House spokesperson said, “President Trump is a master dealmaker, and over 75 countries are working to negotiate trade deals that better serve American farmers and workers. He will continue to hold China accountable for decades of unfair trading practices until they agree to come to the table.”
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