Vietnam approves Elon Musk’s Starlink ahead of Trump tariff decision

Vietnam will cut its tariffs on several US products including liquified natural gas (LNG) and cars, and moved to approve Starlink services, as the country tries to avoid being hit with US tariffs because of its large bilateral trade surplus.

Vietnam will cut its tariffs on several US products including liquified natural gas (LNG) and cars, and moved to approve Starlink services, as the country tries to avoid being hit with US tariffs because of its large bilateral trade surplus. The Southeast Asian industrial hub announced in past weeks a series of measures, including boosting imports, to reduce its trade surplus with Washington, which exceeded $123 billion last year, after US President Donald Trump flagged wide-ranging tariffs on trading partners. Under the new plans revealed late on Tuesday, the tariff on American LNG will be cut to 2% from 5%, on automobiles to 32% from a range of 45% to 64% and on ethanol to 5% from 10%, the head of the Finance Ministry’s tax policy department Nguyen Quoc Hung said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website. The tariff cuts are aimed at “improving trade balances with (Vietnam)’s trade partners,” Hung said, adding that while the US and Vietnam had a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership the countries had not signed a free-trade agreement. Vietnam has not yet imported LNG from the US, but the country has been in talks with U.S. suppliers for its future fleet of LNG power plants, the first two of which are scheduled to start commercial power generation by June this year. Hung said the decree on the tariff cuts will be ready within this month and will take effect right after that.