Donald Trump said the US had struck a trade agreement with Vietnam in a deal that would lower Washington’s “reciprocal tariff” on exports from the Asian country to 20 per cent.

The new tariff level represents a more than halving of the 46 per cent levy Trump initially imposed on Vietnam during his “liberation day” tariff blitz on April 2, but is higher than the 10 per cent rate it was lowered to for 90 days as trade talks took place.

The deal makes Hanoi one of the few capitals to reach a trade agreement with Washington in the past three months. But the steepness of the tariffs remaining in place could unnerve countries still hoping to secure significant relief from the levies announced in April, which triggered a financial market sell-off at the time and upended global trade.