The main leader in Vietnam, Lama, asked President Trump to delay the imposition of tariffs for at least 45 days so that the two sides could prevent a move that would devastate the Vietnamese economy and increase US consumer prices.

46 -The stopped tariff rate for which the United States announced that it would impose Vietnam, among the highest any face in the country. The prospects for such a steep tariff left Vietnam with the feeling that he was a stroke and a deep arrest. It also represents a sharp contrast to Hanoja Washington’s recent embrace as an important burma against China and a production destination for many American clothing brands.

President Lama’s proposal to President Trump was appointed a letter from Saturday, according to a copy of the New York Times. In the letter, Mr. Lam called on Mr. Trump to appoint an American representative who would conduct negotiations with Ho Duc Phoc, a Vietnamese deputy prime minister, “with the aim of reaching the agreement as soon as possible.”

Mr. Lam was one of the first world leaders to approach Mr. Trump after The tariffs were announced. In a phone call, he offered to reduce the tariff to American import to zero and invited Mr. Trump to do so, according to the Vietnam Government. Vietnam said his tariffs on US goods were an average of 9.4 percent.

Mr. Trump later described the call as “very productive.”

In his letter, Mr. Lam asked Mr. Trump to meet him personally in Washington at the end of May “to get a deal together on this important issue, in favor of our peoples and to contribute to peace, stability and development in the region and the world.”

The Vietnam Foreign Ministry did not respond to the commentary request.

Vietnam, who faces punishable tall tariffs, along with China, Cambodia and Laos, would be the most severely affected economy in Asia if the tariffs impose that it is planned on Wednesday, economists claim. The United States is the largest export market of Vietnam, which accounts for about 30 percent of the total export in the country. A 46 percent tariff rate would bring 5.5 percent of the gross domestic product in Vietnam, According to ING, the Dutch Financial Services Company.

It would also harm American consumers because Vietnam is crucial in the global supply chain. For the decades, the country has built its economy about attracting foreign investments with cheap labor and young workforce. Now he is a top brand manufacturer such as Adidas and Lululemon. Nike earns about 50 percent of Vietnam shoes.

After Mr Trump imposed tariffs on China during his first term, Vietnam benefited from companies that transferred production there.

Inside Hannoja, the recent moves of Trump’s administration have been suspected of reliability of the United States, which has persisted in Vietnam in recent years. In 2023, two former enemies strengthened a new strategic relationship, a move seen as a turning point in US foreign policy. Although Vietnam struggled with a brutal, decades long war against the United States, polls showed that many Vietnamese welcomed the political and strategic influence of the United States.

The Biden administration watched Vietnam – one of the few countries of Southeast Asia that publicly pushed itself up against Chinese assertiveness in the southern China’s sea – as crucial for efforts in the United States to oppose Chinese prefabricated ambitions in the region.

“The position of Vietnam in the Pacific Ocean, her view of China, willingness to work with America, was his strongest ticket,” said Huong Le Thu, Deputy Director of the Asia Program for the International Crisis Group. “Trump does not see this in this way. He does not see allies or strategic values. Just see numbers and tariffs, so Vietnam has to do more.”

Analysts say that Vietnam has generally had a positive opinion about Mr. Trump during the first administration, seeing him as a pragmatic businessman who would not have to moralize with them because of human rights.

As he explained Tariff, Mr. Trump said, “Vietnam: Great negotiators, great people, they like them. I like them.” Said the “problem” was that the country charged the United States “90 percent”, the figure Apparently reached Founding it at the current Viška in Vietnam with the US, worth $ 123.5 billion. (Vietnam challenged that calculation.)

Tariffs come in an insecure time for Mr. Lama, who has been named Secretary -General Vietnamese ruling communist parties last year after the death of the previous party boss, Nguyen phu trong. Mr. Lam must provide strong economic performance while heading to the party’s congress next year, where the best leaders in the country will be selected.

Even before the announcement of Mr. Trump’s tariff, Vietnam worked to win a new administration. He has signed temporary contracts for imports of US -liquefied natural gas, reduce some tariffs to American imports and enabled SPACEX to open the company to start his Startlink satellite internet service in Vietnam. The Trump organization develops a golf course and a hotel project in the amount of $ 1.5 billion in the Vietnamese province of Northern Hung Yen, Mr. Lama’s home province.

Alexandra Stevenson contribute to reporting.