The tariffs will hack at the root of Vietnam’s export-oriented economic model. In recent years its economy has benefited from manufacturers diversifying away from China, growing by an average of 7% a year over the past decade (excluding the pandemic).

In recent years Vietnam has forged strategic and economic links with the United States, its former foe, making the steep tariff rate all the more of a shock.

U.S. and Vietnamese businesses have asked the Trump administration to delay its planned 46% tariff on Vietnamese goods, saying the levy will hurt them and bilateral commercial relations. The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi expressed concern to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in a letter dated Saturday,