United States

Cambodia

China

Laos

Thailand

Vietnam

Economics

Environment, Science & Technology

Science & Technology

The United States imposed antidumping and countervailing duties ranging from an effective 0% to 3,521% on solar panels and modules imported from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, according to U.S. Commerce Department data published on April 22, with rates on the affected exporting companies depending on their level of cooperation with the U.S. investigation.

U.S., ASEAN: New U.S. Tariffs To Hammer Solar Panel Exports, Chinese Transshipment

Cyber

Politics

Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security will assume a majority stake in FPT Telecom, one of the country's largest internet providers, Reuters reported on April 18.

Vietnam: Security Ministry Takes Majority Stake in Major Telecoms Company

Military & Security

Chinese President Xi Jinping traveled to Vietnam to meet with the Vietnamese Communist Party's General Secretary To Lam and President Luong Cuong, who greeted Xi at the airport, the first such high-level airport welcome given by Vietnam since 1991, Reuters reported on April 14. 

China, Vietnam: Xi and Lam Talk Trade and Investment, but Obstacles Persist

Brunei Darussalam

Indonesia

Malaysia

Myanmar

Philippines

Singapore

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that Malaysia, as 2025 chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), will lead a coordinated bloc-wide response to stiff tariff hikes instituted by the United States on all its members, the South China Morning Post reported April 7. 

Asia-Pacific: ASEAN Chair Malaysia Attempts Coordinated Response to U.S. Tariffs

During a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, Vietnam's top leader To Lam conveyed Hanoi's willingness to reduce import tariffs on U.S. goods to zero, pending a reciprocal agreement, Viet Nam News reported April 4.

Vietnam, U.S.: Hanoi Says It Is Willing to Slash U.S. Import Tariffs to Zero

Timor-Leste

Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states are disproportionately impacted by U.S. President Donald Trump's imposition of reciprocal tariffs on April 2, The Wall Street Journal reported April 3. 

ASEAN: Southeast Asia Most Severely Impacted Region by U.S. Tariff Hikes

Bangladesh

A 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck near Mandalay, Myanmar, leading to widespread destruction and killing at least 25 people, including at least three across the border in Thailand, with the death count still rising, The New York Times reported on March 28.

Myanmar: Largest Earthquake in Over a Century Kills Dozens, Imperils BRI Projects

Vietnam has approved a license for SpaceX's Starlink to operate internet services in a pilot program allowing up to 600,000 subscribers that will last through 2030, with no restrictions on foreign ownership, Reuters reported March 26. 

Vietnam: Hanoi Grants Starlink Five-Year License, Tariff Reductions on U.S. Imports

Assessments

Ecuador

Iran

Europe

Italy

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the closing session of the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, China, on March 11, 2025. 

U.S.-Iran Relations

A look at what the coming week will bring -- and a list of recommended RANE articles from the week that was.

The Weekly Rundown: Xi Tours Southeast Asia, Iran-U.S. Nuclear Talks Begin

Vietnamese garment workers stitch apparel at a factory in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on April 3, 2025, after U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping new tariffs on trading partners.

Global Trade

If the 46% U.S. tariff on Vietnamese goods remains in place, it will quickly destabilize the country's export-reliant economy, creating substantial risks that could compel Hanoi to deepen its reliance on China.

Trump's Tariffs Pose a Structural Threat to Vietnam's Economy

Canada

Mexico

United Kingdom

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on reciprocal tariffs as U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick holds a chart during an event in the Rose Garden entitled ''Make America Wealthy Again'' at the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 2025. 

Trump's sweeping new tariffs will slow both U.S. and global economic growth, with lower-income Americans and emerging markets like Vietnam being hit hardest.

The U.S. Launches the Largest Trade War in Modern History

Brazil

Israel

Lebanon

Japan

Ukraine

Russia

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a joint press conference Feb. 16 at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem. Senior Israeli officials from the security and intelligence ministries will visit the United States to discuss Iran's nuclear program and Israeli border demarcation talks with Lebanon.

Russia-Ukraine Conflict

The Weekly Rundown: The U.S. and Israel Coordinate on Iran, the U.K. Chancellor Seeks Fiscal Discipline

The flags of the countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, are seen on display.

U.S.-China Relations

Malaysia's chairmanship will be pivotal in navigating security risks as well as those from U.S. trade restrictions, potential Chinese economic coercion, and supply chain realignments that threaten ASEAN's cohesion and strategic autonomy.

Previewing Malaysia's 2025 ASEAN Chairmanship

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba hold a joint press conference on Jan. 10, 2025.

Japan is intensifying its diplomatic and security engagement in Southeast Asia through defense, trade and infrastructure agreements to counterbalance China and enhance regional stability.

Ishiba Strengthens Japan's Role in Southeast Asia With Defense and Trade Deals

Columns

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Asia-Pacific

Australia

South Korea

Taiwan

India

U.S. President Joe Biden gestures to reporters after landing on the South Lawn of the White House on Sept. 22, 2024, in Washington, D.C. 

Trump's more aggressive and transactional approach could deliver quick wins for the U.S.'s position in the region, though it could also strain ties with key partners. 

Trump's Asia-Pacific Approach Will Test Biden's Gains

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (R) and his Vietnamese counterpart Phan Van Gang, meet at the Pentagon in Washington D.C. on Sept. 9, 2024. 

Global Elections

Trump is more likely to impose tariffs to minimize the trade deficit, while Harris is more likely to call for supply chain decoupling from China -- either of which could strain U.S.-Vietnam ties.

What a Trump vs. Harris Presidency Would Mean for Vietnam

Energy

The Geopolitics of Water

Amid pressing energy and geopolitical needs, the accelerating construction of upstream dams will exacerbate the Mekong River region's water shortages and environmental degradation.

The Geopolitics of Water: National Interests Sideline Environmental Concerns in the Mekong River Region

Laos' Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone (center) and other ASEAN leaders take part in the 2024 ASEAN summit in Vientiane on Oct. 9, 2024. 

The deals signed at the summit reflect an increasing focus on economic integration amid the Southeast Asian bloc's continued failure to find consensus on security issues.

Reviewing the 2024 ASEAN Summit

The flags of ASEAN members are displayed at a naval base during the ASEAN Solidarity Exercise in Batam, Natuna regency, Riau Islands province, Indonesia, on Sept. 20, 2023. 

ASEAN's economic and geopolitical diversity will impede significant progress toward deeper integration, despite members' intention to collaborate more closely.

Economic and Geopolitical Diversity Hinders ASEAN's Path to Deeper Integration

Angola

Botswana

Comoros

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Lesotho

Madagascar

Malawi

Mauritius

Mozambique

Namibia

Seychelles

South Africa

Eswatini

Tanzania

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Egypt

Palestinian Territories

Qatar

France

Yael Braun-Pivet, a French lawmaker for the ruling Renaissance party, delivers a speech after being reelected as National Assembly president following the third round of voting on July 18, 2024.

Israel-Hamas Conflict

The Weekly Rundown: France Resumes Political Horse-Trading, Blinken Returns to Middle East

Vietnam is located on the easternmost edge of the Indochinese Peninsula, with China to the north and Laos and Cambodia to the west. Its more than 2,000 mile-long coastline abuts the Gulf of Tonkin, the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. These seas create both direct access to the wider Pacific Ocean and a critical buffer to Vietnam's long and narrow land territory.    Modern Vietnam consists of two geographic and population cores — the Red River Delta in the north, home to the capital of Hanoi, and the Mekong River Delta in the southern lowlands, where Ho Chi Minh City sits.  These cores are separated by over 1,600 miles and connected by a thin and largely mountainous coastal spine, only around 30 miles wide at its narrowest point.    Despite mountains and jungles, the northern Vietnamese core has a long history of invasion by forces from China. This almost continuous pressure from the north in part forced Vietnam's early rulers to expand the country's boundaries, first southward, to the Mekong River Delta, and then westward, into present day Laos and Cambodia.    Historically and today, the natural geographic separation of Vietnam's northern and southern cores has exacerbated the two regions' social, cultural and political divide — leaving the country vulnerable to invasion by foreign powers, whether Chinese, French or American.    Vietnam’s primary geographic challenge is to secure buffer space both on land and sea. Today, Vietnam's need for space and security in the South China Seas pits it against China, also in the throes of maritime expansion, thus adding a new dimension to Vietnam's longstanding struggle to carve space for itself against its larger northern neighbor.  

SITUATION REPORTS

U.S., ASEAN: New U.S. Tariffs To Hammer Solar Panel Exports, Chinese Transshipment

Vietnam: Security Ministry Takes Majority Stake in Major Telecoms Company

China, Vietnam: Xi and Lam Talk Trade and Investment, but Obstacles Persist

Asia-Pacific: ASEAN Chair Malaysia Attempts Coordinated Response to U.S. Tariffs

Vietnam, U.S.: Hanoi Says It Is Willing to Slash U.S. Import Tariffs to Zero

ASEAN: Southeast Asia Most Severely Impacted Region by U.S. Tariff Hikes

Myanmar: Largest Earthquake in Over a Century Kills Dozens, Imperils BRI Projects

Vietnam: Hanoi Grants Starlink Five-Year License, Tariff Reductions on U.S. Imports

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