Located in the heart of Little Saigon, ABC Supermarket is like Donald Trump’s tariff rants coming to a fragrant, delicious life.
Sorghum from China. Malaysian frozen seafood. Thai fish sauce. Japanese candy. Of course, a galaxy of Vietnamese products.
All of these imports are condemned by massive tariffs Trump threatened to impose on many Asian countries.
However, in Little Saigon, hostility of the Vietnamese government, which declares the communists themselves, even if the country’s economy develops niche exports, many arrived in the United States nearly 50 years ago after Saigon’s collapse.
They are even willing to pay a higher price if it means that the communist regime will suffer.
“Everything will be more expensive, but if that hurts the Vietnamese government, I’m for that,” said Deep Torong, 65, whose Kurt has a pillow-sized jackfruit. “If the president says it helps America, I’m for that.”
However, 39-year-old John Nguyen worries that consumers’ accustomed to a wide variety of imported foods from Asia won’t be able to afford the prices that tariffs are likely to bring.
“All these people are not rich,” said Nguyen, the son of Vietnamese refugees. He gestured to other shoppers in the parking lot of a Westminster supermarket. “A lot of Vietnamese cuisine comes from Vietnam. Should we be able to pay more for food when it’s already expensive?”
The tech workers didn’t vote in the 2024 election and sped Trump off, but were not impressed by Kamala Harris. His parents are Trump supporters and do not seem to care about the president’s trade war.
“Let’s see how they feel when we pay more for dinner,” he said horribly.
Little Saigon Market shopper Sieu Thi ABC supermarket will always find higher prices after Trump administration tariffs begin in Vietnam.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
That generational disparity was evident in many conversations with Little Saigon shoppers and business owners. There, Republicans have long been shaking with traditional anti-communist stances, and support for Trump remains strong among older Vietnamese immigrants, even though many children have rejected GOP.
For decades, doing business with Vietnam has evolved from the humiliation that could pose a death threat to the common occupation that maintains a small Saigon store packing affordable goods into its inventory.
Stephanie Nguyen fled Vietnam 30 years ago and currently runs a business importing supplements and skincare products from Japan, which also faces sudden tariffs. She admitted that stock market instability caused by Trump’s tariff threats enveloped her portfolio.
“But we have to sacrifice a bit for the benefit of this country,” said the 52-year-old, who “pridefully voted for Trump.” “I can’t go back to Vietnam. This is my home country now, so I need to do what I have to do to protect and support the United States.”
Other importers fear their revenue, including some of the nail salon industry, which has lifted many Vietnamese-Americans into the middle class.
Vy Nguyen moved to the US nine years ago for university and now runs the import business of Nghia, her family’s nail trimming equipment business.
“The tariffs will be devastating if that happens,” she said in a small showroom in Nghia in Garden Groves. “I understand where he is. [Trump] I’m from, but all of this is with small businesses and customers. ”
Vy Nguyen, who runs the US business of Nghia, a Vietnamese company owned by a family that manufactures and sells high-end nail polish tools for nail salons, talks to customers who purchase products from garden glove stores. She said that all the tariffs in the Trump administration are rising prices. “It’s devastating for end users. Vietnamese technicians buy their own tools,” says Nguyen.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Nguyen, 26, had just returned from the fair where the president’s trade war was “everything people wanted to talk about.”
She had to cut her recent orders from Vietnam from $1 million to $500,000 if tariffs were implemented, due to low sales forecasts. Cargo will take much longer and cost more than usual as “everyone is about to export” to stay at Trump’s 90-day tariff suspension.
“We know that in the American community, more than a dollar or more is not that great,” Nguyen said. “But for Vietnamese people, even the increase is very sensitive to everyone.”
Near the Tu Luc Bookstore, manager Eric Duong estimated that 70% of Vietnamese books on the shelf are imported from Vietnam.
Duon didn’t want to give his opinion on “what hasn’t happened yet.” However, he said that the reader’s destination, 41 years of Tu Luc, has already seen sales drop significantly this year.
When the tariffs come, “We’ll try our best to make it affordable, but we don’t know what’s next,” Duon said. “We’re just waiting for Trump to do something and it’s hard to wait.”
People gather inside the Asian Garden Mall in Westminster.
(Carlin Stiehl / for the Times)
Vietnam is the sixth largest exporter in the world to the US, from large companies such as Nike and Lululemon to small manufacturers with stocks of ABC supermarkets. The US trade deficit with Vietnam is around $123.5 billion, putting the country at the top of the Trump list for “mutual” tariffs.
This was unimaginable before a generation.
When then-President Bill Clinton announced the end of the US trade embargo in 1994, hundreds gathered at Bolsa Avenue, Little Saigon’s main drug, to condemn the decision.
For the next decade, anyone in Little Saigon who openly tried to establish business ties with Vietnam could expect accusations of being a communist. The protesters greeted Vietnamese government officials who came to Orange County to speak of the opportunity.
One of those protesters was Janet Nuguen. As OC Supervisor in 2007, she appeared by the then President of Vietnam Nu Nguyen Min Triet, standing outside Dana Point Resort with hundreds of other others.
Janet Nuguen of Newport Beach in 2022.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
Nguyen, who served as a state legislator and senator before returning to the OC Supervisory Committee last year, wrote letters to all US presidents since George W. Bush, urging that free trade is not easy in Vietnam.
“In Vietnam, the government becomes wealthy, not people,” said 48 supervisors who fled Vietnam by boat with their families as children. “If you benefit from America, you must benefit your people, not the Communist Party.”
She acknowledged that Trump’s strategy, including tariffs on countries outside of Vietnam, could affect her district, including small Saigon.
“Prices could skyrocket, services could be reduced, and projects should be suspended,” Nguyen said. “But we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Tim Nu Nguyen, 42, the Vietnamese-American Chamber of Commerce Chairman, said his group received website visits and phone “spikes” from Frantic members.
“Everyone is very on the edge trying to see what to do,” said Nguyen, who imported pickup truck parts from China until the 2019 tariffs helped sink his company. “The best thing we can do right now is an information conveyor, so it can calm people down.”
More than any other group in Little Saigon, this chamber is at the forefront of promoting trade with Vietnam, often presenting at a great personal expense. The founding president, Dr. Co Pham, was wearing a bulletproof vest in his medical practice due to the threat that better business relationships could bring freedom to his hometown.
When Tam Nguyen was asked to replace Pham in 2009, he worried that he “has been putting my family’s business under criticism” by doing so.
Buddha statues and other items in Asian garden malls.
(Carlin Stiehl / for the Times)
Nguyen, 51, escaped from Vietnam as a baby, is the chairman of Advant Beauty College, a beauty school started by parents who trained tens of thousands of nail polishers over decades.
Growing up, Nguyen felt a gap with the older generation, “I was extremely stubborn about not doing trade with Vietnam. I couldn’t understand their trauma.”
Now he said, “The small Saigon business is a global business” and “It seems like everyone is importing something.”
Over the years, his garment tags have progressed through parades in Asian countries, China, Japan and Indonesia.
“Today, it’s something ‘made in Vietnam’ and brings me great pride,” Nguyen said. “My cousin, who has returned to Vietnam, now has a better job. I don’t have the generational anxiety of my parents. And it’s so normalized to the point that even my kids don’t think about. [Vietnamese products] Like to be political. ”
He said, “We’re not just a workforce, we’re the whole supply chain. But this brings us together and we get it all together. Our people adapt. Look at what we’ve created for 50 years.
A customer at a coffee factory in Westminster.
(Carlin Stiehl / for the Times)
Last year, Clinton ran a campaign for Derek Tran at a coffee factory in Westminster.
Generations ago, community members would have yelled Clinton to normalize relations with Vietnam. This time, everyone with a smartphone was happy to take photos.
I stopped by a cafe with my colleague Anh Do this recently morning. Some people said they took Trump’s side on tariffs – and they had nothing to say about the Vietnamese government.
Tea is located above the Vietnamese newspaper in the coffee factory.
(Carlin Stiehl/for the The Times)
Tan True, 55, whose family is in the pharmacy business, sat outside with a group of friends. A copy of the Vietnamese newspaper Win Dong, which is placed on a table next to a flock of cigarettes, contained a column on tariffs with a photo of Trump.
“It won’t affect us anytime soon,” True said. “There’s a lot of debt in America. We have no choice but to do this. Someone is going to get hurt, someone is going to make a profit. That could be us too. [Americans] Who will win? ”
Giau Nguyen, 63, walked under a few doors from the hair salon and was decorated with an Elvis style pompadour and a shirt featuring the US Constitution under a bald eagle and a star and striped pattern.
He admitted that tariffs would hurt his business. “But not just a little bit, this will hurt in the short term, but in the end it’s fair and I’m in favor of being fair. Other countries are cheating on America in the long term.”
Inside, Tony Fukuoka was about to dig into a banmi and a slice of grilled pork as I sat down to talk to him. He grew up in Japan by his Vietnamese parents, and his family imported tractors from Japan and Vietnam.
Tony Fukuoka has lunch at a coffee factory in Westminster.
(Carlin Stiehl / for the Times)
Fukuoka, 22, had not heard of the proposed tariffs. An unstable expression crossed his face as I told him.
“Wow,” he finally said. “It’s going to damage us. It’s not good for us.”
He asked about Trump’s rationale and I explained the president’s feelings.
“What advantages does the US get over Vietnam?” Fukuoka wondered. “I don’t think that sounds fair at all.”
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