“This is not U.S. vs Vietnam; it’s Boeing vs Airbus, Ford vs Mercedes, etc.”
Not so. Mercedes builds cars in Germany and in the U.S. and Ford builds cars in Germany and the U.S. If the EU matches Trumps tariffs on cars, Ford will just export fewer of it’s cars from the U.S. and sell to Europe from other plants outside the U.S. And the gain to the U.S. economy in that particular scenrio? Zip.
And Trump has not made tariffs on Airbus, so its not about Airbus vs Boeing.
Vietnam has high tariffs on U.S. goods.
President Trump says "you sell to us, you buy from us" and raises tariffs on Vietnamese exports to half of what they charge U.S. companies.
Vietnam lowers tariffs on U.S. goods.
U.S. sells more to Vietnam. EU sells less to Vietnam.
So while President Trump "has not made tariffs on Airbus", he removed tariffs from Vietnam on Boeing.