Vietnam's economy grew 8.23% in Q3 2025, its fastest pace in three years

Vietnam’s economy is blowing past every forecast, hammering out its strongest performance in years while the country’s stock market rockets to new ￰0￱ all comes just months after ￰1￱ Donald Trump hammered Vietnam with a sweeping 46% tariff on imports, branding it a “reciprocal” penalty for what he called an unfair trade ￰2￱ that blow, Vietnam has not only kept its economic engine running, it’s ￰3￱ according to Bloomberg, it’s also managed to strike some kind of deal with Trump’s administration, though no one in Washington or Hanoi is sharing the fine ￰4￱ week, the VN Index surged to an all-time high after Vietnam got reclassified as an “emerging market” by FTSE Russell, upgrading it from “frontier” ￰5￱ move came after years of market reforms pushed by the ruling Communist ￰6￱ General Secretary To Lam, who took power last year after the death of his predecessor Nguyen Phu Trong, is behind the ￰7￱ change from “frontier” to “emerging” means Vietnam is now seen as less volatile and more reliable, opening the floodgates to big global investors who were previously sitting on the sidelines.

Lam, 68, has been busy since stepping in; he’s dismantled huge chunks of Vietnam’s bloated public ￰8￱ have been ￰9￱ of bureaucrats have either been laid off or nudged into early ￰10￱ entire level of local government has been ￰11￱ the state-controlled media has been trimmed ￰12￱ first gained national attention leading a massive anti-corruption campaign that forced out two presidents and three deputy prime ￰13￱ purge is still ￰14￱ while some businesses are cheering for more transparency, others are paralyzed by fear of stepping on the wrong ￰15￱ ramps up economic reforms before party congress Lam’s biggest move so far is pushing through “Resolution 68,” a new doctrine approved by the Communist Party Central Committee in ￰16￱ declares the private sector “one of the most important driving forces of the national economy.” That statement shook up the old order, but not everyone knows what it actually means ￰17￱ companies are waiting for clearer rules before moving forward with deals or hiring.

Lam’s team now faces the challenge of preventing the recent shake-ups from clogging decision-making and slowing down investment ￰18￱ uncertainty comes at a time when foreign direct investment is still ￰19￱ FDI hit $18.8 billion between January and September this year, an 8.5% increase over the same period last ￰20￱ of that went into manufacturing, where factories scrambled to hit export targets before Trump’s tariffs kicked in this ￰21￱ emergency production sprints helped drive GDP growth up 8.23% in the third quarter. It’s Vietnam’s highest quarterly jump since 2022. Vietnam’s trade surplus with the ￰22￱ also getting Trump’s ￰23￱ stood at $123.5 billion last year, trailing only China and Mexico.

That’s one of the reasons Trump slapped on the 46% tariff, calling it a fair response to what he claimed were lopsided trade ￰24￱ also set a 20% levy under a still-unpublished bilateral trade agreement and proposed an additional 40% penalty on trans-shipped goods, products that pass through Vietnam on their way from China to the ￰25￱ last measure is vague, and even American officials don’t seem to know how it will be ￰26￱ market surges while IPOs attract global attention Despite the trade tension, Vietnam’s capital markets are ￰27￱ from Vietnamese companies have raised more money this year than new listings in ￰28￱ Hanoi just passed a fresh batch of reforms aimed at loosening rules for international ￰29￱ includes eliminating foreign ownership caps in some sectors and simplifying listing procedures to draw in more global ￰30￱ party congress, which happens once every five years, is set for January.

Lam’s future will likely be decided ￰31￱ then, the government is walking a tightrope between speeding up reforms and not scaring off officials who still hold power in various ￰32￱ Dang Doanh, a former government adviser based in Hanoi, said departments are stuck in limbo. “Improving the quality of public investment is important,” he said, “but there has to be a clear embrace of openness and transparency.” Vietnam is now positioned as a real rival to China for manufacturing and exports, but it’s got a balancing act to pull off. Let’s see if it ￰33￱ your strategy with mentorship + daily ideas - 30 days free access to our trading program