U.S. Opens Investigation into Vietnam’s Intellectual Property Practices
Jun 4, 2026
On May 29, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer announced a Section 301 investigation into Vietnam’s intellectual property (IP) practices, citing persistent enforcement and protection issues that continue to threaten U.S. commerce.
The investigation is based on Trade Act of 1974’s Section 301, which allows the President to take action against unfair trade practices. Every year since 1989, the USTR releases the annual Special 301 Report, which surveys the adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property (IP) rights and protections around the world.
Usually, the report divides the surveyed countries into two categories according to IP-threat level: (1) watch list and (2) priority watch list. For the first time in 13 years, this year’s report includes a third category––priority foreign country––indicating both the most egregious threats to IP and lack of significant progress in negotiations. The only country in that category was Vietnam.
The report details how Vietnam has failed to combat online piracy. For example, piracy service 2embed was shut down by the government in 2023, but was revived by the domain MegaCloud, giving users access to 62,000 pirated video files through over 260 global pirate video sites. Those sites received over 600 million visitors in July 2025 alone. While prosecutions for piracy in Vietnam have recently increased, sentences have been suspended and/or reduced, such as when two operators of pirate video website Fmovies were only sentenced to pay light fines. If Vietnam is serious about protecting IP, it needs to fine and imprison digital pirates.
Another threat to IP is counterfeit goods, commonly sold at urban market centers such as the Nien Hiep market in Hanoi. Unfortunately, Vietnam has relied on the administrative enforcement of its Market Surveillance Agency’s local authorities rather than the criminal penalties that could be given by courts.
Customs agents have failed to consistently interdict pirated and counterfeited goods at Vietnam’s borders. Nor have authorities effectively caught up with the country’s growing tech sector by quelling unlicensed software use or satellite signal decryption. Lack of effective enforcement on these issues are all major impediments to IP security.
These issues follow long-standing IP concerns in Vietnam from previous years’ reports, such as counterfeiters taking advantage of delayed trademark examinations and lack of effective protection against unfair use of test data used to obtain approval for pharmaceutical products.
These investigations have delivered good results in the past, such as in 2021, when the U.S. and Vietnam reached an agreement on reducing illegal timber use following a USTR investigation launched in 2020 by the first Trump administration.
If the Trade Representative determines Vietnam’s actions to be discriminatory and restrictive to U.S. commerce, it may impose several retaliatory measures, including tariffs and the suspension of trade agreement concessions, both of which would restrict bilateral trade.
Both countries benefit from a healthy commercial relationship, with U.S.-Vietnam trade generating nearly $210 billion in 2025. The U.S. is by far Vietnam’s largest export market, with billions of dollars of electronics, machinery, and apparel flowing to America. Strong trade ties benefit the U.S. with pragmatic regional cooperation in opposing China’s expansive claims to territory in the South China Sea which threaten the flow of goods through critical waterways such as the Taiwan Strait.
Failure to sufficiently address IP issues will undermine the Vietnamese economy, as it relies heavily on U.S. and other foreign capital. If U.S. businesses become sensitive to IP insecurity and unpunished violations in Vietnam, they will be more reluctant to invest there. By not enforcing IP protections, the Vietnamese government would deprive the country of future economic growth.
President Donald Trump has a made the rectification of unfair global trade practices a clear priority of his administration. The USTR’s action can help to protect U.S. innovators, inventors, manufacturers, and service providers whose innovation drives not only the American, but the world economy. This investigation shows bold leadership in ensuring not only free, but fair trade.