In short
On 26 October 2025, The US and Vietnam concluded the Framework for an Settlement on Reciprocal, Honest, and Balanced Commerce. In response to the Vietnam’s Ministry of Trade and Commerce (MOIT), the 2 nations will proceed to finalize the detailed commitments within the subsequent few weeks for signing and inner ratification.
The ultimate Settlement is predicted to be concluded by the tip of this 12 months with the next main commitments:
- A complete settlement overlaying digital commerce, providers and funding, mental property, labor, surroundings, customs and commerce facilitation, good regulatory practices, and any distortionary behaviors of state-owned enterprises.
- Commodities originating from Vietnam are topic to reciprocal tariff of 20%.
- Reciprocal tariff of 0% applies to sure commodities below Annex III of Govt Order 14346 dated 05 September 2025, as recognized by each Events.
- Technical boundaries utilized by Vietnamese authorities shall be addressed/aligned e.g., US motorized vehicle security and emissions requirements; import licenses for US medical units; regulatory necessities and approvals for US pharmaceutical merchandise; Vietnam’s obligations below sure worldwide mental property treaties; product high quality conformity evaluation procedures.
- The reciprocal tariff and in-scope commodities originating from Vietnam
The Reciprocal tariff for Vietnam originating items going into US is 20%. There may be risk that the reciprocal tariff shall be lowered to 0% for a variety of commodities below Annex III of Govt Order 14346 dated 05 September 2025.
Nonetheless, the precise advantages of the tariff being lowered to zero could also be restricted because the commodity listing is topic to a variety of limitations which can exclude most of Vietnam’s main exported commodities.
- Tariff discount for US commodities
Vietnam will present preferential market entry for considerably all US industrial and agricultural exports to Vietnam.
This will mirror preferential tariff remedy that’s presently utilized to different key buying and selling companions of Vietnam (e.g., the EU).
- Elimination of technical boundaries
Market entry for the US commodities is predicted to be improved when Vietnam reconsiders the present license, import allow and high quality management on agricultural merchandise, prescribed drugs, autos, and so on.
For additional questions relating to this alert, please contact the listed authors.
* * * * *
Ngoc Trung Tran, Senior Regulatory Advisor, has contributed to this authorized replace.
