Dollar reaches new high against dong

By Dat Nguyen April 2, 2025 | 07:44 pm PT

U.S. Dollar banknotes are seen in this illustration taken July 17, 2022. Photo by Reuters

The U.S. dollar rose to a new record against the Vietnamese dong Thursday morning despite falling globally after the U.S. announced reciprocal tariffs on all global imports.

Vietcombank sold the dollar 0.62% higher at VND25,980.

The State Bank of Vietnam hiked its reference rate by 0.01% to VND24,854.

The dollar fell 0.04% to VND25,910 on the black market.

It has risen 1.7% against the dong since the beginning of the year.

Globally the dollar slid broadly on Thursday and the euro firmed after President Donald Trump announced more aggressive-than-expected tariffs against U.S. trading partners, jolting the markets as investors sought safe havens such as the yen and Swiss franc, Reuters reported.

The highly anticipated tariff announcement sent shockwaves through markets, with global stocks sinking and investors scrambling to the safety of bonds as well as gold.

Trump said he would impose a 10% baseline tariff on all imports to the United States and higher duties on some of the country's biggest trading partners. The tariffs will take effect on April 9 and appeared to target about 60 countries.

The new levies ratchet up a trade war that Trump kicked off on his return to the White House, rattling markets as fears grow that a full-blown trade war could trigger a sharp global economic slowdown.

"The markets are in risk-off mode and pricing in weaker global economic growth," said Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com.

"The issue for markets in the coming days will be clarifying whether there's scope for trading partners to re-negotiate these tariffs and whether there is the risk further trade restrictions are possible from here."