Vietnam will begin a fresh crackdown on online piracy and counterfeit goods from Thursday, with authorities aiming to increase detection rates by 20%, the government said.
The move comes after U.S. renewed the possibility of imposing new tariffs.
The U.S. warning, issued last week, points to what it calls a 'persistent failure' by the Southeast Asian nation to address intellectual property violations. Washington highlighted that Vietnam, which currently holds a multi-billion-dollar trade surplus with the U.S., even exceeding China's so far this year, according to U.S. data, faces growing scrutiny on this front.
In response, Vietnam's Prime Minister Le Minh Hung told ministries to boost detection of copyright infringement by at least 20% this month, in Tuesday's order published on the government's online portal.
The finance ministry was told to 'ensure that the number of cases of suspended customs clearance procedures and subsequent processing increases by at least 20% compared to May 2025'.
They target imported shipments that yield clear evidence of counterfeit goods, the order said, without giving figures for previous violations.
US Repeatedly Urged Vietnam To Rebalance Trade Ties
The Trump administration has repeatedly pushed Hanoi to rebalance trade ties, last week calling Vietnam the world's worst offender on intellectual property and warning of a possible tariff probe by end-May.
China remains Vietnam's largest supplier, exporting a record $186 billion in goods last year, while the U.S. is its biggest export market, with shipments worth $153 billion in 2025, largely electronics, garments and footwear made using Chinese inputs
Authorities have also set an end-May target to boost cases against online piracy and counterfeit goods by 20%.
Vietnam Prosecutors Have Wide Powers
Hanoi launched a similar crackdown last year, shortly after the Trump administration unveiled duties of 46% on imports from Vietnam and later cut to 20% in July 2025.
They were reduced further to 10% in February this year, after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling struck down some of Trump's worldwide tariffs, though his administration has pledged to restore tariffs using different legal tools.
On April 30, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative classified Vietnam as the only 'priority foreign country' in its annual report on intellectual property.
That was the first such listing in 13 years in a category reserved for nations 'with the most egregious IP-related acts, policies, and practices with the greatest adverse impact on relevant U.S. products'.
After the U.S. warning, Vietnam said it had made significant efforts to protect intellectual property and called for an 'objective and balanced assessment' by Washington.
(With inputs from Reuters)