An American-Chinese company and a Chinese company with tire businesses worth more than US$1 billion near Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City are expected to be financially hit due to the Trump administration’s tariffs.

Tire manufacturer Sailun Group, established in China in 2002, has so far invested around US$1.5 billion in research and development ( R&D ) and production in southern Vietnam. The tiremakers businesses include Sailun Vietnam and ACTR, both in Tay Ninh province’s Go Dau district, and an R&D facility in Ho Chi Minh City.

US President Donald Trump announced April 2 that he would levy a 46% tariff on imports from Vietnam. Among other Southeast Asia nations hit by high tariff rates are Cambodia ( 49% ), Laos ( 48% ), Sri Lanka ( 44% ) and Myanmar ( 44% ). All were set to come into effect on April 9, but Trump, soon after granted a 90-day pause for all tariffs, excluding those imposed on its main rival China.

After Trump’s early April announcement, Tay Ninh province’s Economic Zone Authority conducted a business survey, with its findings showing that Sailun Vietnam and ACTR, a joint venture between Sailun Group and US-headquartered Cooper Tire & Rubber, are among firms in the province to be directly hit by the impending tariffs.

Both Sailun Vietnam and ACTR have manufacturing plants in Phuoc Dong Industrial Park in Go Dau district. The former has shipped around 30% of its products to the US while Sailun’s joint venture with Cooper has more than 90% of its products exported stateside, according to the business survey.

Cooper, traded on the New York Stock Exchange as CTB, set up the joint venture with Sailun in 2019. In June 2021, it was acquired by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, a multinational tire manufacturer also headquartered in the US. Sailun, headquartered in Qingdao City in China’s Shandong province, established Sailun Vietnam in Tay Ninh province in 2012.

As well, several tire manufacturers, the Tay Ninh survey shows, that do not ship their products directly to the US may suffer from indirect impacts on their production. Most of the surveyed firms say that they have so far been unable to quantify possible losses, but some of them have received notifications from buyers and clients about order cancellations.

ACTR has almost 1,400 staff members. Meanwhile, Sailun Vietnam has up to 7,000 workers.

Vietnamese deputy prime minister Ho Duc Phoc met with US treasury secretary Scott Bessent and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick in Washington on April 9. They agreed to start talks on a trade deal that will cover tariff issues.

In 2024, Vietnam had a trade surplus of more than US$123 billion with the US, its largest export market. This was the reason given by the Trump administration for its 46% tariff on imports from the Southeast Asian nation, which is a major regional production base for multinationals.