Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the Government meeting on the morning of April 3, right after the US President announced the new tax rate - Photo: VGP

On the morning of April 3, at the Government headquarters, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a meeting of the Government Standing Committee with ministries and branches to assess the situation and discuss immediate and long-term solutions after the US announced reciprocal tariffs on goods from many countries, including Vietnam.

Also attending were Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh; Deputy Prime Ministers Ho Duc Phoc and Nguyen Chi Dung; ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, leaders of ministries, branches and agencies.

After listening to opinions from ministries, sectors and government leaders, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that the current situation shows that trade competition is becoming more fierce, more complicated and more unpredictable.

Over the past time, Vietnam has made great efforts to implement synchronous and comprehensive solutions in politics, diplomacy, economy, and people-to-people exchange to respond to the situation.

Vietnam hopes that the US will have a policy that is consistent with the good relations between the two countries, with the wishes of the people of both sides and Vietnam's efforts in recent times, and consistent with the conditions and circumstances of Vietnam as a developing country that is still having to overcome the severe and prolonged consequences of many years of war.

In the coming time, the Prime Minister requested ministries and branches to be calm, courageous, have proactive, flexible, timely and effective responses to all developments to continue to overcome difficulties, obstacles and external shocks as they have done in recent years in the context of the pandemic, conflicts in many places around the world, and supply chain disruptions...

Along with directing a number of comprehensive, harmonious, reasonable, effective measures, both short-term and long-term, with the US, the Prime Minister requested the immediate establishment of a rapid response team on this issue headed by Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son; assigned Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc to chair and direct ministries and branches to organize listening to opinions from businesses, including large export enterprises.

The Prime Minister emphasized that the GDP growth target of 8% or more in 2025 remains unchanged.

Previously, US President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs with partners. Vietnam was subject to a 46% tariff effective April 9.

According to calculations, if the export turnover from Vietnam to the US remains unchanged, 119 billion USD per year, our goods will have to pay about 54.74 billion USD in taxes, equivalent to more than 10% of Vietnam's GDP.

Vietnam's tax rate is equivalent to that of some countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, and China. However, this is considered a "worst case scenario" when the tax rate on Vietnamese goods is much higher than that of other countries.

Among them are countries that are competitors of Vietnam in the US market such as Thailand (36%), India (26%), Indonesia (32%), Malaysia (24%), Bangladesh (37%), Philippines (17%), Pakistan (29%)...

Statistics on Vietnam's export turnover to the US from the Customs Department show that in 2024, Vietnam exported nearly 120 billion USD to the US, an increase of 23.2% (equivalent to an increase of 22.48 billion USD) compared to the previous year and accounting for 29.5% of the country's total export turnover.

Export turnover to the US market in the first two months of 2025 reached 19.56 billion USD, up 16.5%, equivalent to an increase of 2.77 billion USD over the same period last year.

The US has always been Vietnam's largest export market for many years, as it is considered a large consumer market with high demand.

Therefore, there are up to 15 export product groups to the US with a turnover of over 1 billion USD in 2024.

Including industry groups such as computers, electronic products and components; machinery, equipment and tools, other spare parts; textiles, garments; telephones; wood and wood products; footwear; means of transport and spare parts; plastics; seafood; handbags, wallets, suitcases; toys, sports equipment; iron and steel; cameras, camcorders and components; cashew nuts, electric wires and cables...

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thu-tuong-hop-ban-ung-pho-viec-my-ap-thue-46-lap-to-phan-ung-nhanh-20250403104445566.htm