Over the past years, with the advantage of a potential distribution market thanks to a large population size of 96 million people, and young population structure with 60 percent of the population at the age from 18 to 50, along with other favorable factors, the wave of domestic and foreign direct investment capital has continued to pour into the retail industry of Vietnam.

The agreement between the US Mexico and Canada (USMCA) entered into Force last 1st of July 2020 replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Although in many aspects the new treaty resembles the old one a lot, unlike the previous Trade Agreement, the USMCA focuses mainly on car exports, aluminum, and steel tariffs.

“Covid-19 has given e-commerce a push,” said Nguyen Thuy Anh from the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy.

Rules of origin in international trade is like a passport required for travel overseas. These are used to determine the “nationality” of goods traded in the global market place. Yet, ironically no internationally agreed-upon rules of origin exist.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh emphasised: ".... If you want a good harvest, you have to get up early to go to the fields.”

Australia needs to think about how to strengthen relations in the region so it benefits from trade in a COVID-19 world, says Professor Heng Wang, co-director of UNSW Law’s China International Business and Economic Law (CIBEL) Centre.

On June 30, the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) and the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform (ACAPR) co-organized a special dialogue in Hanoi.

WTO members have discussed a possible Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Declaration for the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference next year which would address the growing pressures on international agri-food production and trade.

The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated in G20 countries a trend towards policies designed to safeguard national security interests against threats associated with international investment, according to a joint report launched by UNCTAD, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 29 June.

China is expressing an interest in joining the updated Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement, which was originally designed as the centrepiece of the Obama administration’s ‘pivot to Asia’, intended to cement a non-Chinese Asian regional group.