The varying levels of US tariffs could see investors move away from the likes of Vietnam and Cambodia and turn to countries like Singapore and Philippines, economists told CNA.

Vietnam's government said on Thursday it would set up a task force and other Southeast Asian nations said they plan to seek talks with Washington as they reel from being hit with some of U.S. President Donald Trump's heftiest tariffs.

For decades, global commerce abided by tariff rates agreed to by the U.S. and 122 other countries during the 1980s and 1990s. On Wednesday, Trump detonated that arrangement, saying that other countries had exploited the system and “ripped off’’ the United States for years, causing its once-mighty manufacturing base to shrink.

US stock futures cratered after Trump unveiled his long-anticipated tariffs. Global investors fled everything from oil to Southeast Asia markets.