Vietnam to host US aircraft carrier despite Trump’s tariffs, Iran war chaos

AdvertisementVietnamThis Week in AsiaPoliticsVietnam to host US aircraft carrier despite Trump’s tariffs, Iran war chaosA 79-year-old veteran of war with America sees the carrier’s visit as proof of how far relations have come4-MIN READ4-MIN ListenBac Phamin HanoiPublished: 3:59pm, 29 Jul 2026Updated: 4:15pm, 29 Jul 2026An American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is set to dock in Da Nang this week, in a visit analysts say shows the durability of US-Vietnam relations despite trade tensions and global upheaval.The USS George Washington, a Nimitz-class carrier currently deployed with the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet out of Yokosuka, Japan, is expected to call at the central Vietnamese port from Thursday to Monday, though officials have yet to confirm the exact date.Its looming arrival “signals that engagement between the United States and Vietnam has not been disrupted by the war in Iran and diversion of other US military assets to the Middle East”, said Carl Thayer, a political scientist and emeritus professor of politics at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

It also showed that defence cooperation between the two countries had withstood “Trump’s tariffs and other issues”, he said.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio shakes hands with Vietnam’s Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung before a meeting on the sidelines the Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in the Philippines on Thursday. Photo: AFPThe port call comes as Vietnam and the US approach three years since formalising a comprehensive strategic partnership in September 2023, representing Hanoi’s highest level of diplomatic relations.

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