PNTR?

It seems people we know are more excited than we are about our impending move to Vietnam. Recently, I was sent this Time article, "Vietnam Trades Up," by some family. It discusses, as you can imagine, the recent WTO accession. The interesting bit is that the U.S. House of Representatives just voted down a measure to give Vietnam permanent normal trade relations status (PNTR) yesterday.

Sure, this vote will come up again, but folks were surprised that it failed initially. There will be some horse trading to be had yet. Perhaps the U.S. textile/garment industry won't be the only one to get trade protection against Vietnam's goods. Long live free trade, as long as it is your market being open for our influx.