• Is Vietnam pursuing a trade creation strategy?
  • I argue that Vietnam is consciously pursuing a trade creation strategy whereby it actively seeks to participate in preferential free trade agreements with important economic markets outside the ASEAN region that could potentially have an important trade creation effect for the country.
  • Do deep preferential trade agreements improve value chains in Vietnam?
  • Berger (2016) conducted an elaborate study of the implications of deep preferential trade agreements ¨C the so-called new generation trade agreements ¨C on the upgrading of global value chains in Vietnam.
  • Does Vietnam have a strategic position in international trade?
  • While Vietnam’s earlier trade policy was mainly focused on traditional international trade integration with the reduction of tariff barriers, the present paper argues that its current trade policy puts more focus on the strategic positioning of the country in international trade.
  • Does Vietnam have a trade policy?
  • The main argument of this paper is that the trade policy of Vietnam and its participation in various trade agreements should be viewed as the result of a deliberate and strategic choice of its domestic forces for national interest, increased potential future economic wealth and power ¨C and, therefore, more security.
  • How did Vietnam manage its trade negotiations with the EU?
  • Vietnam strategically managed its negotiations with both trade agreements largely with the same negotiating team and mainly following a similar calendar, in order to commit to similar reforms under both trade agreements but also to exploit differences in negotiating position between the EU and the USA (under the TPP) to obtain a better deal.
  • Can Vietnamese political leaders circumvent economic reforms in WTO accession?
  • Vu (2017) argued that Vietnamese political leaders have been able to circumvent certain required economic reforms in the WTO accession of the country, such as Vietnam’s policy on required reforms in state-owned enterprises (SOE) between 2000 and the accession of the country to the WTO in 2007.