Sipping tea on her break outside a Samsung Electronics factory in northern Vietnam, worker Nguyen Thi Mai said she had heard about US President Donald Trump's tariffs, but hoped it would not affect business.

Samsung, the world's second-largest phone maker, produces around half of its handsets in Vietnam, and Trump's threat to impose a 46-percent tariff threat on the country sent shockwaves through the South Korean giant's supply chains.

"We don't understand much about macro issues," 27-year-old Mai told AFP, adding that daily life inside the factory in Bac Ninh province was unaffected, despite global market whiplash from on-again-off-again US levies.

"Our work goes on normally," agreed Le Van Binh, 30, adding that he hoped the Vietnamese government would be able to work out a deal.

"Our top leaders are arranging to negotiate with the United States. I hope they can be successful and things will be good for all of us."

Samsung turned to Vietnam because labour costs are "about one-tenth of those in South Korea", Kim Dae-jong, a professor at Sejong University, told AFP.

But US tariff threats -- even after Trump abruptly paused them on........

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