Chinese factories in Vietnam see ‘crazy’ surge in orders amid US tariff pause

Jayson Wu, the Chinese owner of a furniture factory in Hanoi, has been working flat out ever since US President Donald Trump abruptly paused his so-called “reciprocal” tariff policy on Wednesday.

“I’d lost a lot of business when the tariffs hit, then overnight the orders came flooding back,” said Wu, who relocated his factory to Vietnam in 2019 to avoid US anti-dumping duties targeting China.

“My American clients returned with a lot of front-loading demands – they’re very scared Trump could come up with something crazy in the next 90 days.”

Many other exporters in Vietnam share Wu’s sense of whiplash, as the country’s giant export sector scrambles to adapt to Trump’s unpredictable tariff policies.

The Southeast Asian nation has found itself in Washington’s crosshairs in recent months, as it runs a large bilateral trade surplus with the United States and has also seen an influx of Chinese investment from companies looking to relocate production and transship goods to avoid US tariffs.