HANOI — On April 30, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) designated Vietnam as a Priority Foreign Country for intellectual property violations. The designation is the most severe classification in the annual Special 301 Report.

The USTR’s decision rests on five grounds: online piracy, counterfeiting, inadequate border enforcement, unlicensed software use, and the absence of criminal penalties for cable and satellite signal theft. The report states Vietnam has shown a “persistent failure to resolve long-standing concerns” dating back to 2020. The USTR also cited Vietnam’s failure to make “meaningful progress” during negotiations for an Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair, and Balanced Trade as further justification for the designation.

Vietnam was designated as a Priority Foreign Country for the first time in 13 years. In the 2025 Special 301 Report, Vietnam had been placed on the Watch List, the lowest tier. The country skipped the intermediate Priority Watch List entirely before receiving the highest-level designation.

Within 30 days of the designation, the USTR must decide whether to open a Section 301 investigation. The USTR report insists the Vietnam designation is “solely based on IP-related concerns.”

The USTR acknowledged enforcement actions by Vietnam, including the shutdown of Fmovies, Y2Mate, and HiAnime.to. Vietnam had enacted Decree 341 in February 2026, which overhauled the copyright enforcement framework, and implemented a 2025 Amended IP Law effective April 2026 that modernized intellectual property protection and strengthened enforcement mechanisms. Both measures predated the April 30 designation.

Vietnam responded to the designation with a fast, centralized mobilization via a prime ministerial directive. The government launched a nationwide enforcement campaign from May 7–30, 2026, targeting a 20% increase in enforcement cases and requiring daily reporting to the prime minister. The Ministry of Industry and Trade reported that the value of detected intellectual property violations fell by 31.8% in 2025. Vietnam’s government also stated that criminal prosecutions for intellectual property offenses had increased.