TMTPOST -- U.S. President Donald   Trump   on   Wednesday confirmed   his administration has made a   breakthrough in ongoing   trade   negotiations:   the third trade deal   ahead of   the July 9   deadline for reciprocal tariffs.

Credit：U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Vietnam

Trump announced on his social   media   platform   Truth Social that he made   a trade deal with   Vietnam   after speaking with   To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee.   Touting   the   deal as   "a Great Deal of Cooperation between our two Countries", Trump said   the two sides agreed that the U.S.   would impose 20% tariffs on all goods imported from Vietnam   and 40% tariffs on   "any Transshipping."

The "transshipping" tariff means "if another country sells their content through products exported by Vietnam to us — they ’ ll get hit with a 40% tariff", U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick   clarified in   a post   on social media X   later   Wednesday.

The 20%   tariff rate is   higher than the current 10% level   but lower than the 46% reciprocal tariffs   Trump   announced on   April 2,   a date the president   proclaimed   "Liberation Day". Trump on April 9 said that he has authorized a 90-day pause and "a substantially lowered reciprocal tariff"   of 10% during this period, both effective immediately. Vietnam, like many other countries, since then faced a 10% baseline reciprocal tariffs and the original proposed 46% reciprocal tariffs on Vietnam   would   have   been   set to kick in on July 9, after the 90-day pause, if no trade deal was   made to avoid these levies by the deadline.

Trump ’ s social media post suggested Vietnam   agreed to   offer   duty-free   to   U.S. goods in exchange   for   relatively lower reciprocal tariffs.   "In return, Vietnam will do something that they have never done before, give the United States of America TOTAL ACCESS to their Markets for Trade. In other words, they will ‘ OPEN THEIR MARKET TO THE UNITED STATES, ’   meaning that, we will be able to sell our product into Vietnam at ZERO Tariff,"   Trump   wrote in   his post.

Trump didn ’ t say whether the deal has been finalized,   nor provide   details about the   deal   such as when it will come into effect.   White House aides   told CNBC more information would be forthcoming but did not repeat the president ’ s numbers.   US Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael   Faulkender didn ’ t answer CNBC whether the 20% tariff would come on top of the existing 10% tariff on goods from Vietnam or whether 20% would be the new level.

The   state-run news agency   Vietnam News Agency   ( VNA )   following Trump ’ s post   confirmed a phone   call between heads of two nations. General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee To Lam on Wednesday welcomed a new trade agreement with the United States during a phone call with   Trump,   VNA   reported.  

Lam   urged Washington to soon recognize Vietnam as a market economy and to lift export restrictions on certain high-tech goods, according to VNA. It reported the two leaders also discussed major directions and measures to further strengthen the Vietnam-U.S. comprehensive strategic partnership in the coming years.

Shares   of Nike, Inc., which manufactures about   half of   its footwear   in China and Vietnam, rose   more than 4%   following Trump ’ s announcement.   On   Holding   AG,   a Switzerland-based company providing footwear and sports apparel, saw its U.S.-traded   stock jumped   as   much as 7.2% and closed nearly 2.9% higher. The U.S. stock market benchmark ended   Wednesday with the   new record.   The S&P 500 index   gained   0.47% to close at 6,227.42, refreshing its   record   set   on Monday.