A senior Cambodian government official has asked all investors to remain calm so that the team can negotiate more tariffs with the U.S. after the U.S. government decided to reduce the tariffs on Cambodian goods from 49% to 36%.
Deputy Prime Minister and First Vice President of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) Sun Chantol, at a press conference on Cambodia-US tariffs hosted at the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) on the afternoon of July 8, called on all factory owners/enterprises and investors in Cambodia to remain calm and trust the Royal Government to find more good solutions regarding the new U.S. tariffs. Cambodia at a rate of 36%, down from the 49% rate announced on April 2, 2025.
He stated: "I would like to take this opportunity to appeal to companies with factories in Cambodia to maintain calm, and the Royal Government of Cambodia has every possible opportunity to protect our employers, employees, and Cambodian interests."
According to Mr. Sun Chantol, the 36% tax rate will come into force on August 1, 2025, in case Cambodia does not negotiate with the U.S. further, but for Cambodia at the moment, the Cambodian negotiating team is ready, whether in person in the U.S. or online, to reduce the tax rate below 36% and to further expand the possibilities of trade between the two countries.
According to the General Department of Customs and Government of Cambodia (GDCE), in the first five months of 2025, Cambodia-US trade totaled US$4.48 billion, up 27%, of which Cambodia exported US$4.35 billion, up 27%, and re-imported US$120 million, up 25.6%.
In 2024, Cambodia-US goods exchanges totaled US$10.18 billion, up 11.2%, of which Cambodia exported US$9.9 billion to the US, up 11.4%, and the US imported US$264.14 million, up 2.7%.
In fact, from January to July 4, 2025, there were 396 investment projects approved by the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), with a total investment capital of approximately US$6 billion and the creation of about 271,000 jobs. The number of approved investment projects in 2024 is 414 projects.
He affirmed that Cambodia still has the opportunity and ability to attract investors to invest directly.
Cambodian Chamber of Commerce Vice President Lim Heng told Phnom Penh Post on July 9 that this was a major success result of the Cambodian government's negotiations with the U.S. government, which agreed to lower the tax rate for Cambodia from 49% to 36%, while most countries received little positive and others received additional tax rate hikes.
He stated: "This is a matter of great pride for Cambodia, while most countries in Asia have similar tariff rates to Cambodia. more in the future."
He added: "We recognize that tariff hikes in the US market do have an impact on Cambodia, but apart from the US market, Cambodia also has export markets to countries in the European Community, the UK, the Middle East, and the RCEP countries, among others."
Regarding Vietnam's 20% tariff rate on imports to the US market, Mr. Lim Heng asserted that the low tariff rate is really good for Vietnam. Still, if asked how negatively it will affect Cambodia's export sector to the US, the answer is that it will not cause much impact because in the last 2-3 years, it has been observed that some factories in the textile sector in Vietnam have achievedRelocating to Cambodia due to rising labor costs in Vietnam. Vietnamese industries are also starting to turn away from the garment sector to capture the middle-sized industry, which produces components and electronic technology equipment, etc.
He stated: "Therefore, Vietnam's low tariff rate will not have a very negative impact on Cambodia's (textile) export sector to the US market."
With many years of experience investing in the agriculture sector, Lim Heng says that getting Vietnam's low tariff rate will also help motivate Vietnamese traders to increase their orders for more raw materials, semi-finished products and especially agricultural products from Cambodia to be reprocessed before exporting to the US market.
Economist and Vice Chairman of the Cambodia-China Chamber of Commerce Lo Vichit said that although the results of the past negotiations on tariffs with the US have yielded good results, with the US having decided to reduce the tariff rate from 49% to 36%, the Cambodian government still shows its willingness to meet more negotiations with the US to further benefit Cambodia.
"However, Cambodia has about three weeks left to conduct further negotiations with the U.S. side, either by easing the conditions on tariffs on imports of goods from the U.S., increasing orders for goods, or easing some conditions for U.S. companies that want to do business in Cambodia, before the implementation of the new tariff rate (36%) comes into effect on August 1," he claimed.
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