On August 2, the Department of Commerce (DOC) decided to maintain Vietnam’s status as a non-market economy (NME). In a new insight, Data Analyst Jacob Jensen walks through the history of trade relations between the United States and Vietnam, examines the DOC’s decision, and considers its implications on the future of the U.S.-Vietnam trading partnership.

Key points:

• The United States has deepened its diplomatic and economic collaboration with Vietnam in recent years, both to curb Chinese influence and to capitalize on burgeoning Vietnamese industries; this has resulted in the establishment of a “comprehensive strategic partnership.”
• It is unclear why Vietnam seems to have received stricter scrutiny than countries with even less market-based economies, such as Laos.
• The decision to maintain Vietnam’s NME status will ensure that, for the foreseeable future, Vietnamese imports will effectively be subject to higher tariffs in any antidumping case to offset supposed NME price distortions.

Read the analysis