HANOI, March 26, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Vietnam said it plans to cut import duties on a range of goods including cars, liquefied gas and some agricultural products, as concerns escalate over potential US tariffs.

The announcement on the finance ministry's website late Tuesday came less than two weeks after Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said the country was reviewing duties in order to encourage increased imports from the United States.

Vietnam represents the United States's third-highest trade deficit, behind China and Mexico.

There is increasing worry that Hanoi could be the next target of President Donald Trump's tariffs, which have sent shockwaves through global markets.

According to the finance ministry statement, import duties on some cars will be cut by half and the tax rate for liquefied natural gas will drop from five percent to just two percent.

Duties will also be cut for a number of other products including frozen chicken thighs, almonds, sweet cherries, raisins and wood.

The changes, which should be implemented this month, are to "cope with the complicated and unpredictable developments of the world's geopolitical and economic situation, especially the changes in economic, trade and tariff policies", the statement said.

It is also necessary "to ensure fair treatment among Vietnam's Comprehensive Strategic Partners", the statement added, citing Nguyen Quoc Hung, director of the department of tax management and supervision.

Vietnam also said on Wednesday that it would allow Elon Musk's SpaceX to launch its Starlink satellite internet service as part of a pilot programme that will last until the end of 2030.

There is no limit on foreign ownership of the service, the government said in a statement on its website.

The US and Vietnam became comprehensive strategic partners in 2023.

Prime Minister Chinh this month told US ambassador Marc Knapper that Vietnam was "actively addressing the current concerns of the US in economic-trade-investment relations", including sending its top trade official to the United States.

The US trade deficit in goods with Vietnam was $123.5 billion in 2024, up more than 18 percent on 2023, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

Vietnam is a manufacturing powerhouse that is heavily reliant on exports and the United States was the country's biggest market last year.