WASHINGTON/HANOI — The United States will place a lower-than-promised 20% tariff on many Vietnamese exports, US President Donald J. Trump said on Wednesday, cooling tensions with its tenth-biggest trading partner days before the US president could raise levies on most imports.

Vietnamese goods would face a 20% tariff and transshipments from third countries through Vietnam will face a 40% levy, he said. Vietnam could import US products with a zero percent tariff, he added.

“It is my Great Honor to announce that I have just made a Trade Deal with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” Mr. Trump said on Truth Social after speaking with Vietnam’s top leader, To Lam.

Mr. Trump’s announcement comes just days before a July 9 deadline before he ramps up tariffs on most imports, one of the Republican’s signature economic policies.

Under that plan, announced in April, US importers of Vietnamese goods would have had to pay a 46% tariff.

Details were scant. It was not clear which products Mr. Trump’s 20% tariff would apply to, or whether some would qualify for lower or higher total duties.

Also left to later discussion was how the new transshipment provision, aimed at products largely made in China and then labeled “Made in Vietnam,” would be implemented and enforced.

The Vietnamese government did not confirm the specific tariff levels in a statement celebrating what it described as an agreement on a joint statement about a trade framework.

Vietnam would commit to “providing preferential market access for US goods, including large-engine cars,” the government in Hanoi said.

A deal between the two countries would be a political boost for Mr. Trump, whose team has struggled to quickly close deals with Washington’s biggest trading partners ahead of the deadline.

While the administration has teased a forthcoming deal with India, truces reached earlier with Britain and China were limited in scope. Talks with Japan, the United States’ sixth-largest trading partner and closest ally in Asia, appeared to hit road blocks.

The US is Vietnam’s largest export market and the two countries’ growing economic, diplomatic and military ties are a hedge against Washington’s biggest strategic rival, China. Vietnam has worked to retain close relations with both superpowers.

Shares of major US apparel and sportswear makers including Nike, Under Armour and North Face maker VF Corp closed higher on Wednesday on the news.

Mr. Lam also asked Mr. Trump for the US to recognize Vietnam as a market economy and remove restrictions on the exports of high-tech products to the country, Vietnam said. Those changes have long been sought by Hanoi.

The White House and the Vietnamese trade ministry did not respond to requests for additional comment.

GROWING TRADE TIES
Since Mr. Trump imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese goods in his 2017-2021 term, US trade with Vietnam has exploded, though almost all of it in the form of goods to the United States from Vietnam as importers sought workarounds for the China levies.

Since 2018, Vietnam’s exports are up nearly threefold from less than $50 billion that year to about $137 billion in 2024, Census Bureau data shows. US exports to Vietnam are up only about 30% in that time — to just over $13 billion last year from less than $10 billion in 2018.

“’Transshipping’ is a vague and often politicized term in trade enforcement,” said Dan Martin, business adviser at Dezan Shira & Associates, on LinkedIn. “How it’s defined and how it’s applied in practice will shape the future of US-Vietnam trade relations.”

Mr. Trump announced a wave of tariffs for countries around the world on April 2, before pausing the implementation of most duties until July 9. More than a dozen countries are actively negotiating with the Trump administration to avoid a steep spike in tariffs on their exports.

Britain accepted a 10% US tariff on many goods, including autos, in exchange for special access for aircraft engines and British beef.

Like the agreement struck with Britain in May, the one with Vietnam resembles a framework rather than a finalized trade pact.

China and the United States also came to a truce in a tit-for-tat tariff battle in which Beijing restored American access to some rare-earth minerals, but the two sides left most of their disagreements to later negotiations.

“Had Trump stuck with 46%, much higher than the current tariff on China, Vietnam feared it would be disadvantaged by its competitors especially in Southeast Asia,” said Murray Hiebert, a senior associate with the Southeast Asia program at CSIS, a think tank.

“This likely would have dented Vietnam’s trust in the US and it might have toned down some of its security cooperation with Washington.” — Reuters

LONDON — The World Health Organization (WHO) is pushing countries to raise the prices of sugary drinks, alcohol and tobacco by 50% over the next 10 years through taxation, its strongest backing yet for taxes to help tackle chronic public health problems.

The United Nations (UN) health agency said the move would help cut consumption of the products, which contribute to diseases like diabetes and some cancers, as well as raising money at a time when development aid is shrinking and public debt rising.

“Health taxes are one of the most efficient tools we have,” said Jeremy Farrar, WHO assistant-director general of health promotion and disease prevention and control. “It’s time to act.”

The WHO launched the push, which it is called “3 by 35” at the UN Finance for Development conference in Seville.

WHO said that its tax initiative could raise $1 trillion by 2035 based on evidence from health taxes in countries such as Colombia and South Africa.

The WHO has backed tobacco taxes and price rises for decades, and has called for taxes on alcohol and sugary drinks in recent years, but this is the first time it has suggested a target price rise for all three products.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the conference that the taxes could help governments “adjust to the new reality” and bolster their own health systems with the money raised.

Many low and middle-income countries are coping with cuts to aid spending led by the United States, which is not attending the Seville conference. The US is also in the process of withdrawing from the WHO.

FROM $4 to $10
As an example, the initiative would mean a government in a middle-income country raising taxes on the product to push the price up from $4 today to $10 by 2035, taking into account inflation, said WHO health economist Guillermo Sandoval.

Nearly 140 countries had already raised tobacco taxes and therefore prices by over 50% on average between 2012 and 2022, the WHO added.

Mr. Sandoval said the WHO was also considering broader taxation recommendations, including on ultra-processed food, after the agency finalizes its definition of that type of food in the coming months. But he added that the agency expected pushback from the industries involved.

The initiative is also backed by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and involves support for countries who want to take action. — Reuters

LONDON — Two in three reserve managers fear US Federal Reserve independence is at risk and nearly half think the rule of law in the United States may deteriorate enough to influence their asset allocation significantly, UBS Asset Management said in a survey on Thursday.

And 35% of close to 40 central banks that responded think that the US might ask allies to convert longer-term debt into other instruments such as ultra-long, zero-coupon bonds.

The results highlight growing concern around the safe haven status of the world’s No. 1 reserve currency and biggest bond market given US President Donald J. Trump’s confrontations with long-standing allies over trade and security, and his attacks on the Fed.

Trump’s April 2 Liberation Day tariffs hit both the dollar and Treasuries. He has also pressured the Fed to cut rates and his advisers have floated unorthodox ideas to bring the ballooning US debt pile under control.

Max Castelli, head of global sovereign markets strategy and advice at UBS Asset Management, said the concerns showed it was “very clear” how Liberation Day had changed reserve managers’ view on the dollar.

Going forward, 29% were looking to cut exposure to US assets in response to recent developments, the survey said.

Over the next year however, 25% of central banks said they expected to cut their exposure to the dollar, after stripping out those who want to increase it, slightly less than the past year.

“When you ask: do you see really a big change in the dominance of the dollar? The answer is no,” Mr. Castelli said, adding it takes time for reserve managers to move.

Nearly 80% of respondents expect the dollar, which currently accounts for 58% of FX reserves, to remain the global reserve currency.

In the coming year, gold, which UBS ranked against other non-currency assets, was the top winner, with 52% of central banks looking to add it to their holdings.

And 39% of respondents were planning to increase the share of gold reserves they hold domestically, the survey showed.

Mr. Castelli said that reflected mainly emerging markets central banks worried about sanction risk, and mainly concerning gold stored in the United States.

Mr. Trump’s policies have also revived questions in Germany around its central bank’s gold reserves, some of which are stored at the New York Fed.

Over the next five years, reserve managers reckon the euro will benefit the most from global shifts, followed by the renminbi and crypto assets, the UBS survey showed.

The dollar dropped from top spot last year to ninth place.

But over the next year, only a net 6% of respondents plan to add the euro, while the renminbi took the top spot with 25%. The Canadian dollar, pound and yen were other currencies that a higher net percentage of respondents were looking to add.

“There is a lot of optimism about Europe. But the expectations are very high, in the sense that if Europe does not deliver on reform, I think this European renaissance will be rather short-lived,” Mr. Castelli said. — Reuters