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  • 1 year ago
Donald Trump’s 90-day deadline for countries to negotiate a deal on tariffs is counting down and much of south-east Asia is in a race to offset levies that could crush their exporters. No more so than Vietnam a country that’s boomed in recent years as an alternative to China with electronics, textiles and machinery fuelling its economy.

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00:00In this factory, clothing from some of the world's major brands is coming to life.
00:08And it's workers like Nguyen Ngoc An who've benefited from Vietnam's boom in manufacturing.
00:14I'm using the money I earn here to help pay for my younger brother to study.
00:20About a third of Vietnam's GDP is from manufacturing products for export to the US.
00:26They surge when companies offset Donald Trump's tariffs on China during his first term by moving their factories south.
00:33But now President Trump is threatening 46% tariffs on Vietnam to address a huge trade deficit.
00:41Salaries in this factory start at about $500 a month.
00:45So it's hard to believe with any sort of tariff American workers could ever compete with that.
00:52The owner, Henry Pham Quang An, thinks no matter what happens, Americans won't be reopening garment factories.
00:59You need a supply chain. A lot of things. Not easy. Not easy.
01:04Henry Pham is relatively lucky. A few years ago, almost half of his products went to America.
01:10But now, most of it goes to other countries.
01:13I have some friends. They are the owner of a company. Some of them is bought to the US around 40 to 50%.
01:20And some of them is bought 100% to the US also. Of course, they worry.
01:25While China and the US have rolled back tariffs temporarily, Vietnam has until July to cut a deal.
01:32According to local media, it's one of six countries across Asia which have been given higher priority in the negotiations.
01:39If they put a tariff on Vietnam of 46%, that means companies will move to other countries.
01:45But they won't move back to the US.
01:47Vietnam's leader says the country is ready to cut all tariffs on US imports and is urging the US to do the same.
01:54But until there's a deal, all they can do in this factory is get back to business and wait.
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