President Trump boosted hopes for peace in the U.S.-China trade war by announcing that a “Phase One” deal would be signed on January 15. Now both his supporters and his critics are anxious to see what the deal includes.

Countries like China, South Korea and Japan may boast of low tariffs but they have erected huge non-tariff barriers (NTBs), most of which are tailored to mask the ferocity of trade protectionism, in a bid to control the imports they deem undesirable.

The combined export value of main agricultural products was estimated at 18.5 billion USD in 2019, down 5.3 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The manufacturing and processing industry drove economic growth in 2019 with production volume increasing 11.29 percent over the previous year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The forestry sector had set a target of earning US$12.5 billion from exports of timber and timber products this year, up 10 per cent year-on-year, said Phạm Văn Điển, deputy director general of the Việt Nam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST).

The 42nd meeting of the Việt Nam-Laos Inter-Governmental Committee was a success, Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc and his Lao counterpart Thongloun Sisoulith said.

The size of Vietnamese e-commerce market is likely to hit 13 billion USD this year thanks to a large percentage of young residents and internet subscribers, according to insiders.

The EAEU member states approved a document defining the strategic goals for developing the Eurasian integration until 2025, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated last week while listing its achievements for 2019. They also endorsed a concept for forming an EAEU financial common market with a view to launching it in 2025, according to the Ministry.

The US will impose new restrictions on the export of certain AI programs overseas, including to rival China.

With the phase-one trade deal between the U.S. and China about to be signed, a key threat hanging over the global economy has diminished. After 18 months of wrangling about Chinese purchases of U.S. goods and opening of its markets, investors are hopeful that the current pause in the trade war will be maintained.