Name: Bizline: Vietnam's trade sector proves resilient in a volatile global | Vietnam Today
Uploaded: 2026-01-07T04:44:09.000Z
Duration: 18 min 24 s
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2025 has been a turbulent year for global trade.

Trade remedies are rising and global demand remains volatile.

Yet Vietnam's export sector continues to defy expectations.

Total trade turnover reached a record, exports maintained strong growth, and

the country recorded another year of trade surplus.

And as tariff risks intensify, how well positions Vietnam to sustain its export momentum in 2026?

And these are the main focus of this week's peace line.

In 2025, Vietnam's export turnover reached US$470.59 billion, up 15.9% year on year.

And a notable increase at a time when global demand has yet to recover fully.

An estimated 36 out of 45 product groups recorded export values exceeding US$1 billion.

Notably, the top 10 export categories all posted positive growth.

Exports of computers, electronics products and components were estimated at US$106 billion, surging 46% compared with 2024.

And this also marked the first time Vietnam recorded an export category US$100 billion.

And in 2025, exports of fruit and vegetable and seafood reached US$19.8 billion of nearly 15.2% from the previous year.

This performance reflects not merely a cyclical recovery, but

also substantive improvements in processing and capacity, quality controls, traceability and compliance with green standards.

However, from an overall perspective, the export structure has yet to undergo a steep change as the FDI sector continues to account for the majority of export value.

While export turnover has risen rapidly, deeper structural upgrading remains a key challenge.

And joining us Today is our two experts offering complimentary perspectives on Vietnam's export performance.

Le Sui Binh is chief Economist at Economika Vietnam.

He is a well known economist specializing in macroeconomic analysis, trade structures and policy evaluations.

And also with us is Antony Liefschneider, head of law firm Luthor Vietnam.

He is an international trade and investment law specialist who has advised multinational companies in operating in Vietnam on tariff trade remedies and regulatory compliance across major export markets.

Thank you both our guests for joining our program today.

In 2025, Vietnam total trade turnover still reached around US$920 billion with exports maintaining strong growth and a continuous trade surplus.

What does this tell us about the underlying resilience of Vietnam export sector?

After Li Zhu Bing, the record jet turnover has proven that the tariff has not been that bad.

But we should give this credit to the business community and also the policymaker in Vietnam as well.

The policymaker Regulators Management Agency has been very fast in negotiating with the US Government, the US Administration, in order to have such a tariff.

And the business community has been very fast in responding and been preparing for the tariff.

And the business community has been able to respond to the recovery of the market.

So the resilience of business has been improved.

Yes, I believe that underscoring the entire year 2025 is a key word, resilience, not a calm year on a global scale.

We saw geopolitical problems, we saw trade disputes, and

we saw shipping disruptions and very rapid policy changes, especially coming from the US but also other areas of the world.

And still Vietnam was quite successful, not only maintaining but even expanding its export growth.

So that's not only a coincidence, that is the consequence of planning and structure.

So I believe that those are the core components of Vietnam's success.

And Vietnam has done very well over the past decade to build scale diversification and also operational discipline.

And that comes in as a very reliable foundation for Vietnam's success in 2025 and probably also beyond.

This company exports rice to markets across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle east, primarily by sea freight.

When instability erupted in the Middle east, ocean freight rates to the region as well as to Africa and the EU rose by 30 to 40%.

Many customers either postponed deliveries or requested faster shipment schedules.

As a logistics service provider, this company has also been affected by the conflict in the Middle East.

One of its export consignments was forced to remain grounded for two days at a transit airport in Qatar after the country closed its airspace.

As a result, for cargo that does not require rapid delivery, the company has adopted alternative solutions.

Another challenge facing Vietnamese exporters is the reciprocal tariff policy of the United States.

Many businesses have taken advantage of the temporary tariff suspension period to accelerate production and exports.

Schneiders, as we know, export growth in 2025 was largely driven by electronics, machinery and technology related products.

And as we move into 2026, which data signals will tell us whether this technology lead growth can be sustained?

I believe already before 2025, we saw a change in Vietnam's manufacturing output.

This is again the result of strategic planning and positioning the right policies and reshaping the legal framework to attract higher quality investment.

So Vietnam is not only exporting more stuff, more merchandise.

It's not just about scaling the quantity, but it's also about quality.

Now Vietnam is exporting know how and skills that are ingrained in the products that leave the country to go overseas.

Electronics and machinery, I believe, are going to continue growing in 2026 because that's what the world demands.

And Vietnam is now able, not only able to make it, but

to compete with other countries in making those products.

So it is time for domestic enterprise to play a strong role in development is Palm.

So I think that when we realize that it is time, it is high time for domestic enterprise, Vietnamese enterprise to to partition themselves in the Changoron and the places Changoron.

I think that then in the year to come, I hope that domestic enterprise will place increasingly more important drones in the turnover of the exporter to other countries.

Now, with tariff risk and trade remedies likely to remain elevated in 2026, how are multinational exporters in Vietnam adjusting their legal sourcing and and operational strategy just stay competitive and compliant across major markets?

I think it's still all about de risking and de risking in these very moving times is about diversification and of course anticipation.

Depending on what industry you're in and the scale and size of your business and where else in the world you operate operationally, it means that you have to redesign supply chains to be tariff aware, not tariff reactive.

Because you don't know what is going to happen tomorrow.

So you're going to have to prepare for the worst and be very flexible and quick in reacting to these developments as they transpire.

After just around two years of operating in Vietnam, this company has exported more than 1.5 million laptop units to Apple with a total value of nearly US$2.1 billion this year.

This figure is double the company's export turnover over the same period in 2024, underscoring the strong momentum of the high tech manufacturing and export investment wave in Vietnam.

Computers, electronic products and components remain Vietnam's largest export category, accounting for 22.6% of total export turnover and continuing to serve as one of the most important drivers of export growth.

Vietnam's export turnover reached a record high in 2025, reflecting the growing production capacity and improved ability of Vietnamese enterprises to meet high international standards.

As Vietnamese businesses increasingly master technology better complying with international standards and expand exp exports, especially to demanding markets.

Exports are no longer merely a short term growth driver, but

are steadily becoming a core foundation of Vietnam's long term competitiveness.

Which macro level stabilizers will be the most critical in sustaining Vietnam's export performance?

As global trade conditions remain volatile, we look at South Korea, look at Singapore, we look at Japan, Germany after World War they all start to be very low value Products to export and also to starting from low.

But what makes them different is that they didn't stay there for long.

They realized that that is only a stage of development.

And they move very fast into the next phase of development.

That is development that is based on technology, that is based on knowledge, that is based on innovation.

also moving up to brand and also to research and development, concept development, to distribution, to marketing, to value added through branding, through marketing and through many other stage of development later moving up at the higher part of the global supply chain.

And all this help them to position themselves in a very strong positions as they are now.

So we learn from this that is approach that we have to accept at the beginning.

Low level of the global supply chain, assembly and things.

Tax policy is important, but it's not the most important one.

What is more important, that is a business environment that is favorable, that is enabling for business to invest, especially invest into efficiency, to invest into productivity, invest into technology, invest into human capital.

Investing into capital that is needed for the development, investing into the human, investing in research and development.

So these are much more important than ducks.

Seafood is one of Vietnam's key export sectors.

But the lack of productivity in many businesses is becoming increasing increasingly apparent.

Despite exports reaching hundreds of markets, many companies remain reactive and dependent on importer orders.