U.S. President Donald Trump's “Liberation Day” saw the imposition of widespread tariffs.
This included a 46 per cent tariff on Vietnam.
According to NPR, Vietnamese Communist Party chief To Lam was one of the first leaders to speak to Trump following the announcement of the tariffs.
Trump would later put up a post on his Truth Social account saying that To Lam told him that Vietnam would "cut their tariffs down to zero".
According to The New York Times, Vietnam has said they have an average tariff of 9.4 per cent on U.S. goods.
Vietnam had also asked for a delay on the tariffs that are expected to kick in on Apr. 9.
Trump's social media post on Apr. 4, 2025, had called the talks "very productive" and that he was looking forward to a meeting with To Lam.
Not good enough
But an offer of zero tariffs might not be enough for the U.S. to lift their own, at least according to Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro.
When asked in a CNBC interview if Trump was agreeable to negotiations by countries reaching out to reduce tariffs.
Navarro said that offer "means nothing to us" as it is the "non-tariff cheating" that matters. Examples of this provided by Navarro included intellectual property theft and value-added tax.
Pressed by the host later on what is enough for negotiations, if zero was not enough, Navarro revised his statement to say the offer of zero tariffs would be a "small first start".
Image from PBS YouTube
