By closing the loopholes, the Trump administration is signalling what any future deal with China might look like. The 40% tariff on transshipped goods suggests that even if tariffs on China are eventually reduced, they’re unlikely to fall significantly below that threshold.
US President Donald Trump’s new trade deal with Vietnam sends a clear signal about where US tariffs on Chinese goods might ultimately land, as talks between Washington and Beijing continue following their recent truce.
Chinese goods currently face tariffs of around 55%, a level expected to remain through August. But under the latest Vietnam agreement, the US will slap a 20% tariff on Vietnamese exports to the US and a steeper 40% levy on goods deemed to be transshipped — the latter targeting a well-worn backdoor used by Chinese exporters since the first China-US trade war to dodge American tariffs.
