Press accompanies enterprises amid the U.S. tariffs

On April 2, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order imposing retaliatory tariffs on imports from all countries and customs regions into the U.S. Under this order, Vietnam was included in the group of countries subject to the highest individual retaliatory tariffs—up to 46%. The press, with hundreds of print and online outlets and millions of news pieces and commentaries, has closely monitored developments, missing no detail in the U.S.'s shifting trade policy announcements, ensuring appropriate media coverage.

Immediate and Timely Engagement by the Press

On one hand, the press must gather information and provide the most comprehensive updates on the evolving situation in both Vietnam and other countries exporting to the U.S. This allows comparisons and the drawing of lessons that businesses and policymakers can learn from.

On the other hand, the press must quickly consolidate outcomes from scientific research, forums, conferences, and roundtables, including timely, comprehensive, and in-depth expert analyses and policy interpretations from top specialists, elite trade professionals, agencies, organizations, and business consultants. This enables the production of thorough reporting and analysis on both the positive and negative impacts, future forecasts, and solutions to mitigate adverse effects while amplifying beneficial outcomes.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thuong Lang said this approach would help provide knowledge, information, and reliable, practical advice, enabling businesses to accurately identify opportunities worth fully leveraging and challenges that must be resolutely overcome. It contributes significantly to helping enterprises maximize positive impacts and minimize negative ones.

The U.S.'s tariff action is a redistribution of benefits among businesses, with the potential to reduce consumer price indices and increase the welfare of buyers outside the U.S.

"This strategy is part of the U.S.’s effort to reclaim its trade leadership, leveraging its major-power status to address domestic challenges such as a public debt exceeding $35 trillion, shrinking U.S. industries, declining competitiveness, and the powerful, seemingly unstoppable rise of China—now threatening America’s position as the world’s leading economic power", said Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thuong Lang.

Clearly, the press has demonstrated rational and effective companionship—at all times, in all places, under all circumstances, and unconditionally—as a particularly sharp and powerful communication tool, closely tied to every step and stage of business development, whether in prosperity or during difficult, even exceptionally difficult, times.

Despite its negative impacts, the U.S.'s import tariffs can also yield some benefits—such as reducing global prices—allowing Vietnamese businesses to purchase surplus goods that can no longer enter the U.S. market at lower costs.

From the business side, in Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thuong Lang's opinion, there is a need to diversify markets, developing new ones beyond the U.S., such as in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, and East and South Asia. At the same time, there should be deeper development of the domestic market, leveraging established supply chains and enhancing competitiveness both at home and abroad.

Investing in the U.S. market to overcome high tariff barriers, and strengthening partnerships or joint ventures with American counterparts, is also a viable strategy—one that traditional journalism has suggested and helped businesses consider through informative coverage.

A Symbiotic and Supportive Ecosystem

In this unprecedented situation in global tariff history—where the U.S. imposes steep retaliatory tariffs on dozens of countries with trade surpluses, including Vietnamese exports—the close, timely, effective, and firm support of the press has been clearly evident. The power of media through journalism has been fully mobilized and has proven highly effective.

"The risks posed by the U.S.’s retaliatory tariffs on Vietnamese exports have been mitigated. This is the result of several factors, including the optimal and appropriate leveraging of the press’s companion role", stated Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thuong Lang.

This ecosystem confirms the unconditional support role of the press in all stages of business operations and throughout the value chain. Although it does not directly contribute to value creation, the press plays a vital indirect role by offering information, research, analysis, expert commentary, data collection, surveys, summaries, evaluations, trend forecasting, and risk minimization for businesses. This creates a reliable basis for enterprises to make informed investment and business decisions—whether to expand or contract, specialize or diversify product lines.