No Mr. President. Apple and US consumers will pay the 20% tariff on Vietnam
I know that President Donald Trump wrote on a social media post that “Vietnam will pay the United States a 20% Tariff on any and all goods sent into our Territory.” I’m sorry, but that is not how tariffs work. Vietnam will not pay one penny of the tariff imposed on it by the U.S. You might want to believe otherwise, but it is true. Apple and/or its U.S. customers will be forced to pay the hiked import tax on the following devices, which are believed to be made by Apple in Vietnam:
- AirPods
- Apple Watch
- iPad
- Mac mini
- MacBook Pro
The 20% import tax on goods shipped into the U.S. from Vietnam sounds like a bargain compared to the 46% rate that Trump announced for Vietnam during his “Liberation Day” event. However, prior to that early April announcement, the tariff on goods shipped to the U.S. from Vietnam was less than 4%.

Is it a lie or simply a misstatement? Trump is wrong about who pays the tariffs imposed on Vietnam. | Image-AppleInsider
Besides the 20% tariff on goods shipped from Vietnam to the U.S., Trump announced a 40% transshipping tariff on goods shipped to the U.S. from Vietnam that originally came from another country (usually China) and were shipped through Vietnam in order to escape a higher tariff. As we noted, Apple is not expected to have to deal with the transshipping tariff.