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Author: Mark Barnes
Trans shipping: To What Extent is Vietnam China’s backdoor to the U.S.?
Vietnam’s role as a transshipment hub for Chinese goods has become a key point of contention between the US and Vietnam. While there seems to be little question that this practice is taking place, there does seem to be some debate as to what extent. With this in mind, this article looks at a few key data points worth considering.
Vietnam Shoots the (Telegram) Messenger: Implications & Impacts
Telegram is set to be banned in Vietnam because it is allegedly being used for nefarious activities. Foreign firms should see this as a reminder of the often arbitrary and unpredictable nature of Vietnam’s digital regulatory environment.
Vietnam News Roundup: May 16 to May 22
This week’s Vietnam News Roundup covers the approval of a new airline amid ongoing turbulence in the aviation sector, fresh funding for consumer finance firm F88, State Treasury deposits at SOEs raise questions about private sector parity, and more…
Vietnam’s US Tariff Threat Prompted Counterfeit Crackdown: Unpacked
Counterfeit goods have been highlighted as one non-tariff barrier that led to the recently announced US tariffs on Vietnamese goods. Vietnam is now responding to try to bring down those tariffs by launching a crackdown on counterfeits. So, how prevalent is the counterfeit goods trade in Vietnam? Can it be stopped? And if it can, why hasn’t it been already?
Vietnam News Roundup: May 9 to May 15
This week’s Vietnam news roundup covers growing pressure on U.S. footwear tariffs and Vietnam’s lobbying response, a rebound in the corporate bond market, rising power prices, renewed scrutiny of gaming regulations, Hilton’s expansion plans, a proposed VAT cut extension, and more…
The “Existential” Tariff Threat to US Footwear Brands & What That Means for Vietnam
The Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America has warned that the “reciprocal” tariffs announced last month pose an existential threat to American footwear businesses. This article explores how that threat could play out in Vietnam.
Vietnam News Roundup: May 2 to May 8
This week’s Vietnam news roundup covers CPI and trade data, SBV operations, credit growth, LNG tariffs, gold demand, a PMI drop, sanctions risk, the KRX system launch as well as foreign trader activity, tourism data, and more…
Can LNG really save Vietnam-US trade?
There has been a lot said about Vietnam buying more LNG in order to reduce its trade surplus with the United States. There has even been some suggestion that Vietnam could buy as much as US$35 billion worth a year and store it offshore. But is buying more LNG really a realistic option?
Vietnam News Roundup: April 25 to May 1
This week’s Vietnam news roundup covers Vietnam’s response to the proposed 46 percent US tariff, VinFast’s latest earnings, World Bank forecasts, SBV market activity, and more.
Marx to the Market: A Brief History of Vietnam’s Post-Reunification Economic Development
Fifty years ago this month, the citizens of Ho Chi Minh City were watching the skies as US military helicopters evacuated the last of their personnel. Conversely, this month, in 2025, the citizens of Ho Chi Minh City looking skyward are unlikely to see US helicopters and instead more likely to see the VN Pay logo made up of tens of hundreds of drones. An advertisement for a banking and finance app to be sure, this is also largely emblematic of just how far Vietnam’s economic ideology has shifted in the last 50 years.
Vietnam News Roundup: April 18 to April 24
This week’s Vietnam news roundup covers the latest: updates in the FW Aviation vs VietJet UK court case, rising bad debt data, a new factory for Nestle, skyrocketing gold prices, State Bank open market operations, and more…
Vietnam’s Revised Power Development Plan 8: A Missed Opportunity
Last week, the Government of Vietnam issued a Decision significantly revising the Power Development Plan 8 (PDP8). However, whereas this could have been an opportunity to redesign the PDP8 to align more closely with on-the-ground realities, this opportunity looks to have been missed.
Vietnam’s Revised Power Development Plan 8 2025: What’s Changed?
Last week, the Government of Vietnam issued Decision 768/QD-TTg significantly revising the Power Development Plan 8 (PDP8). This comes less than two years after the first PDP8 was issued and makes some substantial changes to Vietnam’s goals and expectations. Notably, the PDP8 is a cornerstone of Vietnam’s electricity industry, and with this in mind, this article breaks down how this plan has changed.
Vietnam News Roundup: April 11 to April 17
This week’s Vietnam news roundup covers the latest: EU trade remedies against Vietnamese steel, how industry is responding to the Trump Tariff turmoil, car sales data, electricity output, foreign trader activity, State Bank open market operations, and more…
Key Challenges in Vietnam-US Trade Negotiations: Unpacked
The US-China tit-for-tat trade war has seen tariffs on China rise to 145 percent and tariffs on the US reach 125 percent. As a key link between these two economies, this puts Vietnam in a tricky situation entering trade negotiations with the United States. Add to that the often contradictory objectives of its foreign-invested and domestically owned sectors and this should make for some very interesting negotiations.
Vietnam News Roundup: April 4 to April 10
This week’s Vietnam news roundup covers the latest: responses to US tariffs, State Bank open market operations, GDP and CPI numbers from the first quarter of 2025, the increase in the average income, and more…
What’s Next for Vietnam if Trump’s 46 Percent Tariff is Here To Stay?
Last week, the President of the United States Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on imports from all over the world. Among them was a 46 percent tariff on imports from Vietnam. This will have broad implications for Vietnam’s economy and the world economy more broadly. With this in mind, this article looks at what Trump hopes to achieve and the way he intends to achieve it, both of which make it look a lot like these tariffs are here to stay. That being the case, it also looks at the implications for Vietnam and ways it might be able to formulate an impact-mitigating response.
Vietnam News Roundup: March 28 to April 3
This week’s Vietnam news roundup covers US tariffs, electricity efficiency, shared EV charging station technology policy, Novaland’s latest audit, and more…
Could Vietnam Benefit From a Bit of Polish ‘Shock Therapy’?
Vietnam wants to develop fast but this will require significant economic reforms and for those reforms to be implemented quickly. But whereas there is a tendency to look regionally for economic models to emulate, it might also be worth looking to the ex-Soviet Eastern European states, like Poland, which went from a low-income to high-income economy in only a few decades. With this in mind, this article looks at what Poland did that allowed for such a rapid change in its fortunes and whether or not Vietnam can do the same.
Vietnam News Roundup: March 21 to March 27
This week’s Vietnam news roundup covers a possible reduction to MFN tariffs, Starlink satellite services pilot run approval, increased foreign ownership limits for some banks, the latest State Bank open market operations, and more…
Q2 2025