U.S. Business Groups Urge Trade Chief to Forgo Vietnam Tariffs

  • Engagement is preferable to levies, 76 associations say
  • Chamber of Commerce, National Retail Federation sign letter

A worker walks past containers stacked at a port in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Photographer: Yen Duong/Bloomberg
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The U.S.’s biggest business organizations in areas from food to fashion asked the nation’s trade chief to refrain from resorting to tariffs as a remedy in its trade disputes with Vietnam.

“If the administration has concerns about elements of the U.S. trading relationship with Vietnam, then engagement is required -- not more tariffs,” 76 groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation and the Internet Association -- whose members include Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google -- said Wednesday in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.