Trade wars give US LNG a beachhead in Vietnam

Gas-to-power deals offer Hanoi a quick route towards reducing its trade surplus with the US and avoiding President Trump’s attention

US pressure on Vietnam to reduce its trade deficit is creating a rare opportunity for US LNG producers to access a fast-growing Southeast Asian economy, fortuitously at a time when trade tensions are dampening their hopes for exports to China. In the latter half of 2019—while Trump administration officials stepped up threats to impose tariffs over the $39.5bn trade deficit—deals for LNG imports and LNG-related power generation worth over $5bn have been signed between US firms and the Vietnamese government. In the largest deal, the Vietnamese government chose Arlington-based power company AES on 2 October to develop an LNG-to-power 2.2GW combined cycle gas turbine power plant in the south-cen