US exports drove Vietnam’s economic success

The tariffs targeting most of Donald Trump’s US President are now true, and there are no other areas that are as difficult as Southeast Asia outside China.

At the top of the list is Vietnam and Cambodia, which faced the highest tariffs of 46%and 49%. Furthermore, Thailand (36%), Indonesia (32%) and Malaysia (24%) are lower. The Philippines has 17%tariffs and Singapore is 10%.

This is a big blow to the area that relies heavily on exports. Over the past 30 years, economic development has been led by the success of selling products to other worlds, especially the United States.

Exports to the United States contribute to 23%of Vietnamese GDP and 67%of Cambodia.

The growth story is now collapsed by punishment measures imposed on Washington.

The long -term impact of this tariff will assume that they are staying in place, especially in the Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodian governments.

Vietnam’s “bamboo diplomacy” will try to be friends with everyone and balance the relationship between China and the United States.

Vietnam has begun an ambitious plan to build a high income, knowledge and technology -based economy by 2045 under the leadership of the new Communist Party Secretary General. This aims to aim at an annual growth rate of 8%.

More exports to the United States, the largest market, were the center of the plan.

It was the main reason why Vietnam agreed to increase the relationship with a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2023.

The Communist Party, which has almost no opposition and formal political opposition, depends on the economic vow of justification. Many economists are already so ambitious, but now it will be harder to meet.

Thailand depends on US exports less than Vietnam, which is less than 10% of GDP, but the Thai economy has been much worse over the past decade. The Thai government is trying to find ways to increase economic growth, and most recently, gambling has not been legalized, but this tariff is another economic blow that cannot be affected.

For Cambodia, tariffs are probably the largest political threats in this region.

The Hunmanet government, like Hun Sen’s authoritarian who succeeded two years ago, is vulnerable, but is vulnerable.

In order to maintain the power of the Hun family, it was necessary to provide rivals to the Cambodian economic privileges such as monopoly or land concessions, but it helped to cause a lot of dissatisfaction with property development and land acceptance that is no longer sold.

The apparel division, which hires 750,000 people, is an important social safety valve and has given steady income to the poorest people in Cambodia. Trump’s tariffs are likely to lose thousands of jobs.

Unlike China, which has counterattacked by its own charges, the official message of the Southeast Asian government is not embarrassed and retaliated.

Vietnam dispatched Deputy Prime Minister Ho DUC PHO to Washington to insist on his country and propose to eliminate all tariffs on US imports. Thailand plans to make similar appeals to financial ministers and suggested that it will reduce tariffs and purchase more US products such as food and aircraft.

Anwar Ibrahim Prime Minister Malaysia is also heading to Washington, but exports to the United States do not have to be affected by only 11 percent of Malaysia’s total.

The Trump administration, however, seems to have no compromise.

Peter Navarro, chief counselor and one of the major thinkers of new policies on President Trump’s trade and manufacturing, interviewed Vietnam’s zero tariff proposal on Monday that Vietnam’s zero tariff proposal would not deal with the deficit of meaningless trade.

He accused Vietnam that he had maintained several non -state barriers to imports of US imports, and that one -third of all Vietnam exports to the United States were actually Chinese and Chinese products passed through Vietnam.

In order to avoid US tariffs on China, the ratio of exports to Vietnam, which is made there, is difficult to evaluate, but detailed trade studies have been placed between 7% and 16%, not 1/3.

Like Vietnam, the Cambodian government appealed to the United States to postpone tariffs while tariffs attempted to negotiate.

The local US Chamber of Commerce and Industry demanded 49%of tariffs, and the largest employer in the country, the Cambodian clothing industry, will be greatly affected, but there is no tariff, but that clothing and shoes manufacture cannot return to the United States.

Perhaps the largest tariff rate is 44% applied to Myanmar, a country in the inter -Korean war.

US exports are less than 1%of Myanmar’s GDP.

But as in Cambodia, the sector, mainly, is one of the few who provide steady income to the poor families in Myanmar.

In the best irony, Trump has been a popular figure in this area.

He was widely admired in Vietnam about a strong way of trading on foreign policy, and the former power behind the scene, former Kang Hun -Sen, a former power of Cambodia, has been proudly published in the first meeting in 2017 and has been proud of him.

Only last month Cambodia was praising Trump. Voice of America and Radio Free Europe often led the view of Cambodian dissidents to close the US media network.

Now, like many neighbors, Cambodia finds himself in a long -standing fruiting that he pleads with him to alleviate the burden of tariffs.