Vietnam is racing to become the world’s next “tiger economy,” seizing the opportunities opened by U.S. tariffs on China — and the world is welcoming it with open arms.
Following the announcement of a 20 percent tariff on Vietnam, the U.S. has attempted to remake its trade with the country. Recently a framework that maintains the tariff and allows for preferential market access for U.S. exports was announced. The U.S. has also expanded trade negotiations with Vietnam in an effort to diversify its tech supply chain. And in May the Trump family broke ground on a $1.5 billion real estate project in the country, including hotels and a golf resort.
At the same time, Vietnam is moving away from its fraught relationship with the U.S. and growing closer with regimes like Russia, North Korea, and China. BRICS, an economic bloc that includes China and Russia, has also named it a “partner country.”
The problem with all this? In the rush to make deals with Vietnam, the world is forgetting, or ignoring, Hanoi’s intensifying repression of indigenous activists and other dissidents. While foreign investors and governments embrace Vietnam as a strategic alternative to Beijing, they risk enabling a regime that punishes peaceful advocacy with years in prison.
