Vietnam’s economy will experience both positive and negative impacts. The country must adopt suitable and strategic policies to seize opportunities and mitigate risks over the next four years. Donald Trump’s election as President of the United States for the 2025-2028 term is likely to intensify global instability, which has already been strained by the ongoing U.S.-China strategic rivalry. Trump’s leadership style—favoring unilateral decisions and a transactional approach focused on immediate benefits to achieve his “America First” agenda—disregards alliances and cooperation unless they offer direct and concrete advantages for the U.S. His frequent use of tariff threats to pressure other nations into compliance will exacerbate U.S.-China tensions, weaken Western alliances, and generally make the global landscape more volatile and unpredictable. In other words, Trump’s administration over the next four years will likely accelerate the decline of the post-World War II political and economic order based on rules, particularly the open and free global trade system. Instead, the world may shift toward a bilateral, one-on-one negotiation approach, where larger nations have significant advantages over smaller ones. The trade war between the U.S. and China could escalate and spread to other nations. Trump has announced plans to impose a 10% tariff on all […]
Vietnam’s economy under Trump 2.0
By Tran Quoc Hung (*)