Many Western companies have significant regret about “entering a certain other very large country” through joint ventures and Vietnam should revise its foreign ownership limit.
Michael George DeSombre, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, made the statement in video remarks to the annual U.S.-Vietnam Business Summit on Wednesday.
He urged Vietnam to look closely at industries where foreign ownership is capped, particularly those capped below 50 percent. He said opening more industries to majority and fully foreign ownership would bring more investment, faster growth, and greater access to technology.
DeSombre said bilateral trade grew from $450 million in 1995 to nearly $210 billion in 2025. He described the United States as Vietnam’s largest export market and Vietnam as the seventh-largest U.S. trading partner.
He said the U.S. trade deficit with Vietnam in 2025 was the third largest, behind Mexico and China. That deficit is on track this year to become the largest, the diplomat stressed.
DeSombre said concluding the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade with the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) would help rebalance trade by giving exporters on both sides broader access to each other’s markets.
The agreement would address non-tariff barriers, including vehicle safety and emissions standards, import licensing, and regulatory hurdles on data, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals, he clarified.
Hanoi needs to make bold moves now, as it did in 1986, to address the imbalance, the diplomat suggested.
DeSombre said Vietnam is emerging as a hub for Super Intelligence (SI) and data infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific. He said the U.S. Department of Agriculture is supporting a super intelligence data center campus to keep trusted American technology central to the region’s cloud buildout.
DeSombre noted that American energy companies could help strengthen Vietnam’s energy security through new infrastructure and oil exploration technology. U.S. energy exports could meet Vietnam’s growing demand for power, he added.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s reserves of critical minerals could help diversify global supply chains, the diplomat highlighted.
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