HANOI – Vietnam is set to launch from May 7 a new crackdown on online piracy and counterfeit goods, aiming to boost detections by a fifth, the government said, after the US revived the prospect of fresh tariffs.

The US threat last week targets a “persistent failure” to tackle intellectual property violations by the South-east Asian nation, with which it has a multibillion-dollar trade surplus larger even than China’s so far in 2026, US data shows.

In response, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Le Minh Hung told ministries to boost detection of copyright infringement by at least 20 per cent in May, in the May 5 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 per cent compared with May 2025“.

They target imported shipments that yield clear evidence of counterfeit goods, the order said, without giving figures for previous violations.

The Trump administration has repeatedly urged Hanoi to rebalance trade ties and last week branded Vietnam as the world’s worst offender for intellectual property infringements, warning it could open a tariff investigation by the end of May.

China is by far the main supplier of goods to Vietnam, with exports worth a record US$186 billion (S$236 billion) in 2025, Vietnam’s official data shows, while the US is its largest export market, with 2025 shipments worth US$153 billion.

Among the top items in such shipments are electronic goods, garments and footwear assembled by foreign multinationals and their suppliers using components and raw materials mostly from China.

Mr Hung also set an end of May deadline for a 20 per cent increase in the number of cases tackling copyright violations by computer programs, movies, music, TV shows, online video games and for counterfeit goods sold at home.

Vietnam is a one-party communist state where prosecutors and police have w...