If seen in a positive light, United States President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariff policy could serve as a wake-up call, and compel Vietnam to shift its growth model and restructure its growth drivers A wake-up call Few could have anticipated that the U.S. would impose a sweeping reciprocal tariff of 46% on goods imports from Vietnam. Previous forecasts suggested Vietnam might face a tariff of just 10%, or 20% at most. However, with the calculations largely based on the size of the U.S. trade deficit with each country, a method that has sparked much debate, Vietnam is among the countries that were hit with the highest tariffs. The Vietnamese Government promptly reached out to the U.S., proposing a delay in the implementation of the new tariff to allow time to seek a reciprocal trade agreement and find a trade balancing solution. Nonetheless, this development serves as a timely alert for Vietnam about the risks of an overly open economy, heavily concentrated on a few trade partners and reliant on foreign direct investment (FDI) firms for growth. Since its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over 18 years ago, Vietnam has become fertile ground for multinational corporations seeking to leverage […]