A Missed Opportunity? Critical Minerals and the US-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership
Hunter Marston, author
Date of publication:
2026
Publisher:
ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute
Number of pages:
24
Code:
TRS20/26
Soft Cover
ISBN: 9789815361834
About the publication
- During former US President Joseph Biden’s September 2023 visit to Hanoi, the United States and Vietnam announced a “double upgrade” to the bilateral partnership, elevating ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP). Central to the CSP are agreements on semiconductor supply chains and critical minerals, including US investment pledges to expand Vietnam’s semiconductor manufacturing capacity.
- Since returning to office in January 2025, the second Trump administration has prioritized access to and control over critical minerals supply chains in its global engagement, with critical minerals featuring prominently in a series of US trade agreements and memoranda of cooperation. As global demand grows, competition for these resources—and the capacity to refine them—will only intensify.
- In 2025, the US Geological Survey significantly revised its estimate of Vietnam’s rare earths reserves downward, complicating Hanoi’s plans to boost domestic extraction and production and its broader ambition of achieving advanced middle-income status by 2045. Systemic corruption, investigations and trials have further compounded Vietnam’s supply chain difficulties. Together, these constrain Hanoi’s agency as it seeks to leverage its strategic resources in pursuit of its economic development goals.
- China currently controls around 70 per cent of global rare-earth mining and 90 per cent of refining capacity. The United States and Vietnam share an interest in reducing dependence on Chinese supply-chain dominance by developing Vietnam’s domestic production and refining capacity. However, US-Vietnam strategic convergence has weakened since 2023, particularly under the Trump administration’s more unilateralist and transactional approach to trade and foreign policy.
- Three geopolitical trends have generated new obstacles to deeper US-Vietnam cooperation: tensions arising from ongoing trade negotiations and Vietnam’s efforts to reduce unilateral US tariffs on its exports, warming ties between Beijing and Hanoi, and relative stability in US-China relations stemming from the Trump administration’s downplaying of great-power competition.
Contents
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An Opportunity Being Missed? Critical Minerals and the US-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership
[Whole Publication, ISBN: 9789815361858], by Hunter Marston, author
