Democratic lawmakers joined their Republican colleagues in calling out the Biden Administration's efforts to declare the Socialist Republic of Vietnam a market economy.
While the efforts of the Communist Party of Vietnam have created an economic boom, high levels of corruption, censorship, environmental issues and a poor human rights record persist. The country ranks among the lowest in international measurements of civil liberties, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion and ethnic minorities.
Eight colleagues in the Demcratic majority, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (MA), Sherrod Brown (OH), and Bob Casey (PA) sent a letter outlining their objections to the rush to more open trade relations..
"We write to express our significant concerns with the Department of Commerce’s review of Vietnam’s status as a nonmarket economy (NME) under U.S. trade law.
"There is abundant evidence suggesting that Vietnam does not meet the legal requirements established by Congress to receive market economy status.
"We are especially concerned by reports that Commerce pledged to the government of Vietnam that your agency’s review will result in a favorable determination, to the detriment of U.S. industries and workers,"the Senators write.
25 House Democrats sent a similar letter to the Commerce Secretary.
Text of Senators’ Letter (PDF) | Text of Representatives’ Letter (PDF)
A December 11 Letter by GOP Senators JD Vance (OH), Tom Cotton (AR) and Josh Hawley (MO) to Ms. Raimondo made much the same case.
"The recently announced process defies both normal order and common sense. Vietnam may be an important regional partner, but it does not have a market economy, the China Hawks wrote.
"Commerce Department gives foreign companies, including Vietnamese and Chinese companies, longer time to submit questionnaire responses in trade remedy cases—at least 90 days and often 180 days—than it has given the domestic industry in this instance.
"Vietnam already enjoys a $114 billion annual trade surplus—the third largest surplus of any nation with the United States—yet, Vietnam still actively collaborates with China and is one of the largest sources of transshipped Chinese goods
"Decades ago, our leaders believed that they could draw a communist-led nation into the American order through economic integration. They were convinced that economic policy was the handmaiden of foreign policy and that trade concessions would induce market reforms and then political reforms.
"That strategy failed. It never delivered its promised liberalization—instead, it impoverished hundreds of thousands of Americans and enriched the government of the People’s Republic of China. We would be foolish to repeat the same mistake."
"Of course, we want Vietnam to be removed from the U.S. list of non-market-economy countries," Ambassador Nguyen Quoc Dzung told an audience at CSIS, a Washington think tank earlier this month. "I think if the DOC turned down that, I think it would be very, very bad for the two countries."
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