Business
Trump announces US-Vietnam trade deal
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the US will charge 20% tariffs on imports from Vietnam under a new trade deal reached during last-minute negotiations.
Products sent from Vietnam to the US had faced a 46% levy, which was set to go into effect next week as part of Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs announced in April.
Dozens of other economies, including the European Union and Japan, are still scrambling to make their own deals with the US before the planned increases.
Under the agreement, Vietnam will charge no tariffs on US products, Trump said in a social media post.
Tariffs, which are a tax on imports, are almost always paid by the company that is buying the goods rather than the business which makes the product.
While importers can decide to absorb the extra charge, they often choose to pass it on to the consumer. Many of the US trading partners are worried that will drive down demand for things made in their countries.
In the “Great Deal of Cooperation”, as Trump called it, the US will also impose a steeper tariff of 40% on goods that pass through Vietnam in a process known as “trans-shipping”.
Peter Navarro, Trump’s senior counsellor on trade and manufacturing, has said that a third of all Vietnamese exports to the US were actually Chinese products shipped through Vietnam.
The president said on social media: “Vietnam will do something that they have never done before, give the United States of America TOTAL ACCESS to their Markets for Trade.
“In other words, they will ‘OPEN THEIR MARKET TO THE UNITED STATES,’ meaning that we will be able to sell our product into Vietnam at ZERO Tariff.”
Vietnam has become a major manufacturing hub for a number of major brands such as Nike, Apple, the Gap and Lululemon. It was a beneficiary of firms moving factories out of China to avoid the tariffs Trump announced during his first term in office.
Share prices of companies making goods in Vietnam initially rose on news of the deal, although those gains were trimmed after it emerged products will still face a 20% tax.
Adam Sitkoff, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi, told the BBC World Business Report he was optimistic that the trade deal leaves Vietnam “in a good position”, adding that “companies that ship from [Vietnam] to the US are going to keep doing it”.
But on the proposed tariff for so-called trans-shipping, Mr Sitkoff questioned the definition of the term, suggesting it can be “a vague and often politicised term in trade enforcement”.
“It’s unclear how much illegal re-routing Vietnamese officials will even be able to catch, or how much exists,” he said.
Vietnam’s General Secretary To Lam held a phone call with Trump on Wednesday, during which he reiterated an invitation for the US president to visit the country.
Separately, the Trump family has recently announced development projects in Vietnam.
The country’s government approved a plan by the Trump Organization and local business Kinh Bac City Development to invest $1.5bn in hotels, golf courses and luxury real estate.
The Trump Organization is also scouting for locations to build a Trump Tower in Ho Chi Minh City.
Trump initially imposed steep levies on trading partners around the world in April , citing a lack of “reciprocity”, but then announced a pause where they were all lowered to 10%.
Many countries then approached the US to negotiate trade deals, according to the White House.
Since April, Washington had so far only announced a pact with Britain and a deal to temporarily lower retaliatory duties with China.
BBC Scotland News
BBCEdinburgh Airport has lifted the 100ml rule for liquids being carried in hand luggage.
It will now be possible to take containers of up to two litres through security, and they will not need to be removed from bags.
The change comes after an extra two lanes and eight scanners costing £24m were installed at the international hub.
Edinburgh Airport is the first airport in Scotland to lift the rule. Birmingham airport has also lifted the rule.
There will be no limit on the number of containers that passengers can carry in their hand luggage, but metal water bottles will need to be emptied beforehand.
Items such as bottles of wine or large water bottles can also be taken on in cabin bags.
Smiths DetectionPassengers using the airport are also able to keep large electricals, such as iPads, tablets and laptops, in their hand luggage.
Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, said it would allow passengers to move through security more easily than they currently do.
But he said passengers should check security rules at their return destination as other airports may not have moved away from the 100ml limit.
“A whole generation of travellers have only known the 100ml rule to be the case, so it really is a momentous day as we become the first airport in Scotland to lift the rule since it was introduced in 2006,” he said.
“The change allows more flexibility for passengers to take liquids through security, all while maintaining and improving our high safety levels through the use of 3D technology.”
What are the rules at Scotland’s airports?
Passengers at Glasgow and Aberdeen airports can leave liquids and electronics items, such as laptops and tablets, in cabin bags while going through security.
Liquids, which include creams, gels, pastes, sprays and aerosols, can be taken through in containers of up to 100ml in volume without using a plastic bag.
There is no limit on how many 100ml items passengers can bring.
At Inverness and Glasgow Prestwick airports, liquids, laptops and other electronic devices, including hairdryers, cameras and straighteners, must be removed from cabin bags and placed in a tray.
Liquids in a container of 100ml or less should be placed in a sealed 20cm x 20cm, one litre plastic bag.
Each passenger can only take one of these bags.
For Gartner vice president analyst DD Mishra, WNS’s investments in intelligent automation, analytics, and agentic solutions including its TRAC analytics suite and Malkom knowledge management platform will complement Capgemini’s existing technology and consulting strengths.
Sharath Srinivasamurthy, research vice president at IDC, pointed to the acquisitions WNS has itself made in recent months, including Kipi.ai, Smart Cube, and OptiBuy to enhance its data, analytics, and procurement stack and extend its proficiency in business process operations, said.
However, Rajesh Ranjan, managing partner at Everest Group, views the WNS acquisition as more of a strategic play rather than being focused on garnering more agentic tools or capabilities.
Locafy’s AI Search Platform Powers Visibility Across Organic and AI Search
New Product Lineup Tailored to Local, National, and e-Commerce Businesses
AI-Powered Tools Designed to Automate Engagement and Accelerate Online Presence
PERTH, Australia, July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Locafy Limited (NASDAQ: LCFY, “Locafy”), a globally recognized leader in location-based digital marketing, today unveiled its FY26 suite of AI-powered SEO products. These solutions, now commercially available following successful market testing, are designed to deliver measurable improvements across organic, AI, and marketplace search results.
Locafy initially outlined its AI-powered publishing roadmap in December 2024, promising to streamline content production and improve cost-effective online visibility for businesses.
“We are excited to announce that we’ve delivered on that promise,” said Gavin Burnett, CEO of Locafy.
All of Locafy’s publishing and SEO products are designed to drive visibility in search engines and, increasingly, AI-driven search tools and marketplaces. Recent research shows these optimizations extend across both traditional and emerging search platforms.
“We’ve evolved our technology to influence not only search engine rankings but also AI search results,” said Burnett. “Our platform helps position our clients’ websites as authoritative sources for high-value keywords, across local, national, and e-commerce campaigns.”
Burnett added, “We’ve also automated the creation of AI-search-ready landing pages, opening up a greenfield opportunity for scaled monetization. Our U.S. directory includes more than 9.68 million direct business listings, and our citation management partners publish more than 28 million business listings across our directories. Each of these represents either a direct sales opportunity or a chance to collaborate with partners using the data we already publish on their behalf.”
Locafy is focused on three primary solution categories:
- Online Business Listings
- Local SEO
- AI-powered engagement tools
Online Business Listings
Locafy continues to assert that online business listings form the cornerstone of successful Local SEO. These listings supply structured data that fuels automated SEO product generation. Locafy currently publishes more than 9.5 million listings in the U.S. and remains focused on partnerships with citation management firms and multi-location businesses. It is also exploring acquisitions of databases, directories, and citation management assets.
The Total Addressable Market (TAM) for the Local SEO solution in their key target markets of USA, Canada, Australia, and the UK is more than 40 million businesses.
“We currently host more than 63 million business listings worldwide, of which more than 40 million are in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the UK,” said Burnett. “However, our direct sales opportunity is more than 11.4 million, plus we have more than 28 million listings that we publish on behalf of partners, who can now connect to our Platform to automate the production of our Local SEO products for their clients.”
| Country | Partner Added* | Claimed* |
| Australia | 2,145,707 | 652,351 |
| Canada | 1,533,479 | 289,274 |
| United Kingdom | 3,458,205 | 802,003 |
| United States of America | 33,076,154 | 9,684,329 |
| TOTAL | 40,213,545 | 11,427,957 |
Local SEO
The flagship solution, Localizer, integrates listing syndication, AI-search optimization, review management, and Google Map Pack enhancement.
“We haven’t seen another product that combines these capabilities—at a price point starting around
AI-powered Engagement Tools
In addition to improving search visibility, Locafy has developed a scalable, cost-effective AI Voice Concierge that can serve as a virtual receptionist, product expert, or customer service agent.
“This is our first step into AI-enabled customer engagement,” said Burnett. “Our Voice Concierge acts like a digital team member—it can take bookings, provide answers, and interact 24/7. Just feed it your business documents and it learns. We record and transcribe every interaction, giving clients full transparency.
“This kind of capability once felt like science fiction, but it’s here now—and Locafy is helping businesses adapt and thrive in an AI-powered world.”
Over the past six months, Locafy has streamlined its product suite, automated key production processes, and validated product performance through live testing. With this foundation in place, the Company is poised for commercial growth in FY2026.
While the company still offers solutions for National SEO and e-Commerce, it believes the immediate opportunity afforded by its breakthroughs in AI Search represents a larger and more scalable revenue opportunity with far greater automation already in place.
About Locafy
Locafy (Nasdaq: LCFY, LCFYW) is a globally recognized software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology company specializing in local search engine marketing. Founded in 2009, Locafy’s mission is to revolutionize the US
Investor Relations Contact:
Matt Glover
Gateway Group, Inc.
(949) 574-3860
LCFY@gateway-grp.com
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