Over the whine of buzzsaws and the steady whir of sanders, hundreds of Vietnamese workers in a factory outside Ho Chi Minh City hustle to fill orders for high-end furniture.
It will adorn luxury hotels and residences across the Middle East, Europe and the United States, where the Vietnam-based Jonathan Charles furniture company has largely shrugged off US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The US orders that account for more than half of the firm’s business remained steady in 2025, its CEO said this week, validating an earlier prediction his operation would weather the tariffs.
“My initial reaction was panic for one hour,” chief executive Jonathan Sowter said of the 20% across-the-board tariffs announced by Washington in July.
“But after thinking about it for a while, I realised it’s a level playing field. All my competitors are in Asia,” he said in November.
“Just adding 20% tariffs on Vietnamese products doesn’t mean America can make it cheaper than Vietnam. America will be double the price or triple the price to make what we make.”
Vietnam has proved surprisingly resilient in spite of US levies many feared would crush its export-oriented growth model.
It saw a 28% surge in exports to the US last year while its trade surplus swelled to US$134bil (RM544bil), according to official figures released this week.
Its economy grew at 8%, beating analyst expectations and likely outpacing the rest of Asia, according to HSBC.
“Although Vietnam was widely expected to be one of the economies with high tariff risks, its trade was not disrupted, but ballooned to a record high instead,” the bank’s Asean economist Yun Liu said yesterday in a note to clients.
“Despite facing a 20% headline tariff from the US, Vietnam captured even more market share for certain goods, such as footwear, textiles and electronics.” — AFP
