Soybean tops the list of U.S. Agri-Food Exports to Vietnam in 2024.
Soybean exports from the United States to that destination were $489 million, according to Commerce Department data.
This was followed by almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios and certain walnuts at $372 million.
Agri-Food Exports
Vietnam was the country most affected by the “reciprocal tariffs” imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, setting a 46 percent tariff.
Trump set additional individualized tariffs on approximately 60 countries, and those trade tariffs correspond to about half of the tariffs they charge the United States (including a measure on currency manipulation and trade barriers).
In response, Vietnam offered to eliminate all tariffs on U.S. imports. Party chief To Lam made this approach to Trump and asked to postpone the implementation of the reciprocal tariff for at least 45 days after April 9.
The average most-favored-nation (MFN) tariff applied in Vietnam was 9.4% in 2023 (latest available data). Vietnam’s average applied MFN tariff was 17.1% for agricultural products and 8.1% for non-agricultural products in 2023.
The following are the most exported U.S. agri-foods to Vietnam in 2024, in millions of dollars:
- Soybeans: 489.
- Almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios and other nuts: 372.
- Meat meal, offal, crustacean fish: 206.
- Flour of seeds or oleaginous fruits: 193.
- Poultry meat: 157.
- Wheat: 121.
- Food preparations: 118.
- Water and soft drinks: 93.
- Bran: 75.
- Chocolates: 61.
Response to tariffs
“If I just lowered our tariffs and they lowered ours to zero, we would still have a trade deficit of about $120 billion with Vietnam,” Peter Navarro, Trump’s trade adviser, said on a Fox News program. “And the problem is all the non-tariff cheating that they do.”
In 2023, Vietnam resumed accepting new applications to grow GM crops. This decision came after several years of inactivity.
Then, in May 2024, the Biosafety Committee-recently revamped-began reviewing seven new applications. These include biotech varieties of corn, soybean, canola and cotton, all for commercial purposes.
In addition, three newly approved corn hybrids were released in the first quarter of 2024. These varieties were approved after a 10-year application process.