Tesla and Samsung are urging the US Trade Representative to leave Vietnam alone on tariffs, even as a coalition of American industry groups pushes in the opposite direction, demanding new penalties on Vietnamese goods. The dispute is coming to a head fast: the Trump administration has set November 29 as the deadline to wrap up a trade probe into Vietnam that was launched back in May over alleged intellectual-property violations.
Tesla told the US Trade Representative it should take into account the supply chain needs of American manufacturers, according to investing.com. In comments dated July 2, the automaker said some advanced components and precision manufacturing equipment simply cannot be sourced domestically, even with major US production investments already in place. Samsung's US unit made a similar argument, telling regulators that Vietnam produces a significant share of Samsung's smartphones and network equipment for the US market. Samsung has invested about $25 billion in the country and is described as Vietnam's largest foreign investor, the outlet reports.
Retail groups and trade associations have also come out against additional tariffs on Vietnamese-made goods, siding with the two manufacturing giants. But the opposition is far from unanimous — some businesses are calling for outright penalties, and US industry groups representing steel, seafood, plywood, solar panels and wood products have accused Vietnam of unfair practices while pushing for new tariffs of their own, per the same report.
A Tariff History Already Tangled in Court
The tug-of-war comes against a messy tariff backdrop. The United States currently levies a general 12.5% tariff on Vietnamese goods, imposed in July following an investigation into alleged failures to prevent imports of goods made with forced labor, the outlet notes. That followed a steeper 20% tariff Vietnam faced after Trump's “Liberation Day,” which the Supreme Court later struck down.
Washington is also conducting a separate probe into alleged excessive capacity in Vietnam, adding another layer to the trade friction. Vietnam itself has urged Washington to conduct its investigations objectively, according to the same investing.com account.
Intellectual Property at the Center of the Probe
The Section 301 investigation driving the November 29 deadline centers on Vietnam's intellectual-property protection and enforcement practices. The US Trade Representative is leading the probe into Vietnam's acts, policies and practices tied to IP protection and enforcement, according to Supply Chain Dive. Investigators are examining online piracy, counterfeit goods, border enforcement, unlicensed software use, and cable and satellite signal theft, the outlet reports. Separately, the United States Trade Representative confirms the investigation's comments docket opened on May 29, 2026.
The USTR identified Vietnam as a “priority foreign country” in its 2026 Special 301 Report, released in April, Supply Chain Dive notes. The United States has accused Vietnam of a persistent failure to resolve long-standing concerns about IP protection and enforcement, and investing.com reports Vietnam became the first jurisdiction added to the most serious US watchlist category in 13 years.
Copyright-holder groups have urged Washington to secure concrete commitments from Vietnam to combat widespread piracy. The Business Software Alliance, whose members include Microsoft, Oracle and IBM, criticized what it described as inadequate enforcement despite Vietnam's repeated commitments to address the issue. Citing a 2017 survey, the group said about three-quarters of software installed on personal computers in Vietnam was unlicensed. The Motion Picture Association, meanwhile, said Vietnam was a major hub for online piracy, noting that Vietnam-hosted piracy websites attracted more than 12.5 billion visits worldwide in 2025, and it called for stronger enforcement alongside improved market access for legitimate streaming services.
A Trade Surplus That Keeps Growing
The stakes are underscored by the sheer scale of US-Vietnam trade. Vietnam's exports to the United States surged 42% in the first eight months of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, and the country holds the largest US goods surplus among trading partners, ahead of both China and Mexico, investing.com reports. Earlier in the year, Vietnam's exports to the United States had already jumped 53% year over year in January to exceed $20 billion, according to Reuters, giving it the largest trade surplus with the United States among trading partners that month at $19 billion — ahead of Taiwan, Mexico and China.
Reuters reports Vietnam's full-year 2025 trade surplus with the United States reached $178 billion and had surpassed China's as early as the second quarter of that year. Those figures sit somewhat at odds with a separate USTR accounting that ranked Vietnam as the fourth-biggest US goods-surplus partner at the end of 2025 — a reminder that trade rankings shift depending on which period and dataset is used. The USTR separately estimates total US goods trade with Vietnam at $209.5 billion for 2025, with US goods exports to Vietnam at $15.6 billion, up 19.4% from 2024.
With businesses divided over whether Washington should propose new tariffs on Vietnamese goods, and the November 29 deadline fast approaching, the outcome will shape everything from iPhone component supply chains to the price Americans pay for electronics and household goods manufactured in Vietnam. Reuters' Francesco Guarascio reported this story, which was republished by The Olympian.
