Trump should view Vietnam as a trade partner, not a target

Trinh Nguyen is a senior economist for emerging Asia at Natixis in Hong Kong.

Donald Trump was sworn in as U.S. president on Monday, and the world is speculating about his plans for day one and beyond. For Asia — especially Vietnam — the key concern centers on foreign trade and tariffs. Will Trump’s trade measures target all nations, or focus on specific countries like China and Vietnam, the latter having emerged as a major beneficiary of supply chain shifts in Southeast Asia?