VIETNAM, RELATIONS WITH

VIETNAM, RELATIONS WITH. On 25 April 1976 the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was renamed the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; its government controlled both northern and southern parts of the country. After a period of cool diplomatic relations in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the United States and Vietnam established diplomatic relations on 12 July 1995 and exchanged ambassadors in May 1997. President Bill Clinton visited Vietnam in 2000.

By 2002, the United States was fully committed to normalization of diplomatic, political, and economic relations with Vietnam, including accounting for POW/ MIAs, resettlement abroad for Vietnamese refugees, protection of intellectual property rights, economic and commercial cooperation, democratic reforms, and repayment of sovereign debt.

On 10 December 2001 the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement took effect; it established normal trade relations—allowing Vietnam to export products to the United States at standard tariff rates. Vietnam pledged to continue economic reforms that would allow and encourage U.S. companies to invest in the country. Vietnamese exports to the United States totaled more than $1 billion in 2001 and were expected to increase in 2002; concurrently, the two nations were engaging in an unprecedented cultural exchange. As young Vietnamese-Americans returned to rural villages to meet their grandparents for the first time, former American servicemen visited earlier enemies in an attempt to understand the legacy of the war.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Berman, Larry. No Peace, No Honor: Nixon, Kissinger, and Betrayal in Vietnam. New York: Touchstone, 2002.

Sheehan, Neil. After The War Was Over. New York: Vintage Books, 1992.

LarryBerman

JasonNewman

See alsoSoutheast Asia Treaty Organization ; Southeast Asian Americans .