Vietnam displaces China as top US supplier after tariff war

September 12, 2026 at 02:34 PM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

Vietnam has overtaken China as the largest source of US imports after Washington's tariff war pushed manufacturers to relocate production. Vietnamese exports to the US rose from $142 billion in 2024 to $201 billion in 2025, while Chinese exports fell from $463 billion to $327 billion over the same period. The shift reflects both the tariff shock and Vietnam's decades-long export-oriented reforms.

Key Facts

Vietnam's exports to the US rose from $142 billion in 2024 to $201 billion in 2025, according to Federal Reserve economists.
China's exports to the US fell from $463 billion in 2024 to $327 billion in 2025, a loss of over $136 billion.
Vietnam captured about $59 billion of the export volume China lost in the US market.
India's trade surplus with the US reached $58.4 billion in the first half of 2026, nearly half Vietnam's surplus.
Vietnam launched the 'Doi Moi' reform program in 1986, shifting from a planned socialist economy to a socialist-oriented market economy.

Tariff War Shift

US President Donald Trump's tariff policy against China played a key role in the rapid growth of Vietnam's exports. After the US sharply raised tariffs on Chinese goods, many companies began moving part of their production from China to other countries. Vietnam became one of the most attractive destinations for such companies. For example, US furniture maker TOV Furniture changed its sourcing structure within a year: previously 60% of its goods came from China and 25% from Vietnam, but now the ratio is reversed.

Doi Moi Reforms

Experts argue that Vietnam's current success cannot be attributed solely to the US-China confrontation. The country has been building an export-oriented economic model for several decades. In the 1980s, the Vietnamese government launched the 'Doi Moi' (Renovation) reform program, which transformed a poor and closed country into one of the world's fastest-growing economies. Before 1986, Vietnam had a strictly planned socialist economy where the state decided what to produce and at what price to sell. The system led to crises, food shortages, and industrial stagnation, prompting the government to announce a new model of a 'socialist-oriented market economy' that retained political control while liberalizing the economy.