Costa Rica officially recognised Vietnam as a market economy on Monday. This comes just days after the US Department of Commerce announced it would not remove Vietnam’s non-market economy tag on the grounds that “sustained and pervasive government influence” was still too big of a factor in Vietnam’s economy.

Of note, trade between Vietnam and Costa Rica is relatively small. So far this year, the Central American nation has not featured in Vietnam’s customs data. That said, state media has been pushing the number of countries that consider Vietnam a market economy as a key reason why it should be upgraded by the US. With this in mind, it’s likely there will be many more announcements like this from smaller countries.

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