Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary To Lam speaks during the 14th National Party Congress in Hanoi, Vietnam, January 20, 2026. PHOTO: REUTERS
President Donald Trump met Vietnamese leader To Lam on Friday and said he would work to remove Hanoi from lists of countries restricted in accessing U.S. advanced technology, according to a summary of the talks posted on the news website of the Vietnamese government.
The first formal in-person meeting between the two took place at the White House after the head of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party attended the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace in Washington.
While US warplanes and aircraft carriers headed toward Iran on his orders, Trump welcomed some two dozen allies from around the world to the gleaming Washington building of the former US Institute of Peace, which has been gutted and renamed after the 79-year-old Republican.
Trump, who has sharply curtailed foreign aid, said that the US would contribute $10b to the initiative, whose goals include rebuilding Gaza, which was reduced to rubble by two years of fighting between Hamas and Israel.
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The meeting followed the announcement of deals worth over $30 billion, under which Vietnamese airlines would buy 90 aircraft from U.S. planemaker Boeing BA.N.
Trump on Friday announced an immediate new 10% tariff on most imports from all countries after the Supreme Court struck down some of his earlier sweeping tariffs.
Trump signed executive orders late on Friday to impose new tariffs starting on Tuesday under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, partly replacing tariffs of 10% to 50% under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act that the top court declared illegal, and ending collection of the now-banned duties.
The orders continued exemptions already in place for aerospace products; passenger cars and some light trucks; goods from Mexico and Canada that are compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement; pharmaceuticals and certain critical minerals and agricultural products.
