Trump’s Vietnam Agreement Bodes Poorly for Future Trade Deals

Colin Grabow

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump stated that US tariff policy would be based on reciprocity. “Whatever countries charge the United States of America,” he wrote in a social media post, “we will charge them—No more, no less!”

Well, so much for that.

Announcing a new trade agreement with Vietnam last week, Trump indicated that tariffs between the two countries would be anything but reciprocal. Although details of the deal are scant, Trump crowed that...