Vietnam posts $114 billion trade surplus with U.S. in first half of 2026

Chinese imports fell as production shifted to Vietnam

Vietnam’s trade surplus with the United States reached $114 billion in the first half of 2026, federal data show, surpassing the surpluses recorded by Taiwan, Mexico, and China during the same period. The Wall Street Journal reported the figures on Wednesday, describing the result as an unexpected outcome for an economy roughly a quarter the size of Mexico’s and as the product of President Donald Trump’s tariff campaign against Chinese goods.

The trade flows reflect sharp differences in tariff treatment. The effective tariff rate on Chinese imports stood at 23.2% in June, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model, well above the 7% global average. Vietnam’s effective rate was 6.5%. Trump said his aim was to revive American manufacturing. Instead, the tariffs have moved production from China to its southwestern neighbor.

Major companies have made the shift over the past decade. Apple, Nike, and Lululemon are among the firms that have relocated significant production from China to Vietnam, the Journal reported. Smaller producers followed. In 2024, Miami-based TOV Furniture sourced 60% of its sofas, beds, and other products from China and only 25% from Vietnam. Those ratios have since flipped, with 60% of TOV’s furniture now coming from Vietnam and 25% from China.

The company’s imports from Vietnam face a 25% tariff, half the rate levied on Chinese products. “We moved simply because of the tariffs,” TOV founder Bruce Krinsky told the Journal.

The volume of U.S. imports from Vietnam has grown alongside the rerouting. U.S. imports from Vietnam reached $123 billion in the first half of the year, a 40% increase from the same period a year earlier. The value of those six months alone exceeded the $114 billion in Vietnamese goods shipped to the U.S. across all of 2023.

Chinese imports moved in the opposite direction, falling to $129 billion in the first half of 2026 from $168 billion a year earlier.

Vietnam is not the leading exporter of goods to the U.S. by total volume. Mexico and Canada are the largest exporters by far, and Taiwan and China sit just ahead of fifth-place Vietnam. But Vietnam imports far fewer goods from the U.S. than those larger partners do, which leaves its bilateral surplus with the U.S. larger than theirs.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has alleged that Chinese companies are funneling goods through third countries — sending nearly finished clothes through Vietnam or other nations for final touches — to evade duties. Mark Gillin, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, acknowledged that transshipment occurs but disputed its scale as the main driver of the surge.

About 60% of Vietnamese exports to the U.S. are labeled as machinery, electronics, or appliances, Gillin said, sectors dominated by companies with substantial Vietnamese operations such as Samsung, Intel, and electronics manufacturer Foxconn. “You look at the massive growth of electronics, you know where it’s coming from,” he told the Journal. “It’s not about garments coming across the border and putting a new label on it.”