Viet Nam seeks opportunities amid global economic challenges: HSBC

Dr. Frederic Neumann, Chief Asia Economist at HSBC and Yun Liu, Senior ASEAN Economist at HSBC said, in a year with tariffs dominating the news headlines, Viet Nam saw record-high trade.

While it may be tempting to attribute this to front-loading effects when exporters rushed to ship goods, Viet Nam's cemented position in global electronics trade came to the rescue after the front-loading effect had faded.

This did not come overnight, rather it is thanks to consistent efforts to attract quality foreign direct investment (FDI), improve the business environment, and move up the value chain.

HSBC highlighted that over a third of Viet Nam's exports are electronic products. It now plays a bigger role in final electronics assembly, specializing in finished consumer electronics, thanks to supply-chain diversification from tech multinationals like Samsung.

While mainland China remains in the dominant position for many of these exports, Viet Nam's share of consumer electronics, including smartphones, printers and computers, has seen a notable jump from almost none to 8-15 percent in 15 years.

Besides consumer electronics, Viet Nam is also striving to climb up the value chain further, targeting the integrated circuits segment. Indeed, Viet Nam has actually captured more share in the U.S. market in certain consumer electronics, defying the tariff risks, noted HSBC specialists.

But it's not only the traditional exports market that the nation is targeting: new trade opportunities are of crucial importance. Viet Nam has a large portfolio of free trade agreements (FTAs), including the flagship EU-Viet Nam FTA.

In the long term, Viet Nam's advantage remains, as FDI reflects international investors' confidence in an economy's medium- to long-term growth potential.

Viet Nam's GDP expanded 7.83 percent in the first quarter of 2026, according to the National Statistics Office.

With an export turnover of US$107.75 billion in 2025, computers, electronic products and components not only sustained their position as Viet Nam's largest exports by value, but also contributed more than half of the overall increase in the country's export value in 2025./.