Samsung under pressure as tariffs rattle S Korean economy

Sipping tea on her break outside a Samsung Electronics factory in northern Vietnam, worker Nguyen Thi Mai said she had heard about US President Donald Trump's tariffs, but hoped it would not affect business.

- NHAC NGUYEN HIEUN SHIN

Samsung, the world’s second-largest phone maker, produces around half of its handsets in Vietnam, and Trump's threat to impose a 46% tariff threat on the country sent shockwaves through the South Korean giant’s supply chains.

“We don’t understand much about macro issues,’ 27-year-old Mai told AFP, adding that daily life inside the factory in Bac Ninh province was unaffected, despite global market whiplash from on-again-off-again US levies.

“Our work goes on normally,’ agreed Le Van Binh, 30, adding that he hoped the Vietnamese government would be able to work out a deal.

“Our top leaders are arranging to negotiate with the United States. I hope they can be successful and things will be good for all of us”

Samsung turned to Vietnam because labour costs are “about one-tenth of those in South Korea’, Kim Dae-jong, a professor at Sejong University, said.

But US tariff threats — even after Trump abruptly paused them on Wednesday — are now shaking the logic that has underpinned decades of rapid growth and manufacturing investment in developing Asian economies, he said.