Why has the Vietnam-US trade relationship become successful in such a short time of 15 years?
Well, I think one of the things that have made the relationship successful is what we would call pent-up demand. I mean, in Vietnam you have got a large population that for a long time didn’t have much choice in terms of how to spend money. So, as Vietnam has been able to open up and integrate into the world trade, that’s allowed companies to come in and products to come in and given people greater choice for everything from where to work to what kind of car to buy. The relationship has moved forward quickly because it makes sense for it to move forward quickly. American companies and investors are interested in Vietnam and Vietnamese companies have been interested in selling to the US. The US is the world’s biggest market place. No matter what you are producing, if you can sell it there, you are probably going to do well. I think it is just natural that things move forward. The catalyst for that was obviously the 2001 bilateral trade agreement that took tariffs on Vietnamese products
