Vietnam will buy more American goods, including defence and security products, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said in a statement issued late on Monday, as the country seeks to delay a 46% U.S. tariff rate on its exports.

The tariffs will hack at the root of Vietnam’s export-oriented economic model. In recent years its economy has benefited from manufacturers diversifying away from China, growing by an average of 7% a year over the past decade (excluding the pandemic).

In recent years Vietnam has forged strategic and economic links with the United States, its former foe, making the steep tariff rate all the more of a shock.