Overview
- USTR, which released its 2026 Special 301 report Thursday, designated Vietnam a “Priority Foreign Country,” the first such listing in 13 years.
- As a result of the designation, the agency has 30 days to decide on a Section 301 investigation, a step that can lead to talks and potentially new tariffs.
- USTR said Vietnam failed to enter good‑faith negotiations or make meaningful progress on widespread counterfeiting, online piracy, weak border checks, and unlicensed software use.
- India remained on the Priority Watch List as USTR flagged pharma patent rules such as Section 3(d), gaps in trade‑secret protection, high duties on IP‑intensive goods, source‑code disclosure risks, and slow, inconsistent enforcement.
- Other shifts included adding the European Union to the Watch List and moving Argentina and Mexico off the Priority Watch List, while footwear and apparel groups warned that action against Vietnam could disrupt sourcing and raise consumer prices.