Turns out, President Trump might be willing to wheel and deal on trade restrictions despite the White House’s assertion that the tariff plan is not a negotiating tactic.
Mr. Trump said Friday he had a “very productive call” with To Lam, the general secretary of Vietnam’s Communist Party.
Mr. Lam “told me that Vietnam wants to cut their Tariffs down to ZERO if they are able to make an agreement with the U.S.,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I thanked him on behalf of our Country, and said I look forward to a meeting in the near future.”
Vietnam was among the hardest-hit countries on Mr. Trump’s naughty list of countries with high trade barriers. It faces a 46% tariff under Mr. Trump’s plan, announced Wednesday, compared with a baseline tariff of 10% for most nations.
The 46% is a bitter pill to swallow for companies that tried to decouple from China and move to Southeast Asian alternatives such as Vietnam and Cambodia, which face an even stiffer tariff of 49% under Mr. Trump’s plan.
Now, those companies will have to reexamine their supply chains and costs if global leaders cannot strike a deal over trade barriers.
SEE ALSO: The pushback begins: China imposes 34% tariff on U.S. goods
Wall Street stocks continued crashing Friday due to Mr. Trump’s tariffs, though Nike, which relies on Vietnamese production, saw its stock rise after his news about the positive call.
Mr. Trump on Friday told companies moving operations into the U.S. that his policies will “never change.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt recently told CNN the tariff plan is “not a negotiation.”
“This is a national emergency. He’s always willing to pick up the phone to answer calls. But he laid out the case yesterday for why we’re doing it,” Ms. Leavitt said. “This and these countries around the world have had 70 years to do the right thing by the American people, and they have chosen not to.”
