Vietnamese Trade Office Cements Arkansas, Dong Nai Partnership

“I know we’re in Bentonville, Arkansas, so we don’t usually drink champagne in the middle of the day,” said Chris Neeley, executive vice president of Made in USA Works. 

It was about 3 o’clock on June 30, a Tuesday afternoon, and champagne flutes were raised under a white tent on the lawn of the Bentonville Plaza office building, to mark the grand opening of a trade office for Vietnam-based Tin Nghia Corp. (shortened as Tinnghia, here locally).

Any break in decorum for local government and business leaders was accepted as a nod to Vietnamese tradition and in the spirit of goodwill toward Tinnghia representatives and dignitaries of the company’s home province of Dong Nai.

Of 125 attendees, almost 40 were from Vietnam, including members of the province’s executive branch governing body, the Dong Nai Provincial People’s Committee.

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton and Bentonville Mayor Bob McCaslin also participated in the event. The World Trade Center Arkansas and the Bentonville-Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce also were represented.

The event marked the first foreign-owned trade office opening in Arkansas, Neeley said.

Under his direction, the crowd shouted a collective “Yo,” — the Vietnamese version of “cheers” — and toasted to mutual prosperity for Arkansas and the Dong Nai province.

Tinnghia will represent a diverse mix of businesses from the province during trade activities in Arkansas and Vietnam. It’s not acting as a single company, because it is a government-owned entity, Neeley said.

Established in 1989, Tinnghia is one of the largest companies in the Dong Nai province. It has 11 subsidiaries, and its business interests include industrial park management, oil, agriculture, real estate and building materials.

Bentonville-based Made in USA Works, which Neeley co-founded last year with Little Rock attorney and Arkansas Economic Development Council member Mike Roberts, brokered the partnership that resulted in the province opening a local trade office.

Neeley said Tinnghia was originally scouting locations in southern California, but his team pointed to the logistical benefits of Bentonville as a central location.

The advantage of an office close to the world’s largest retailer was also a compelling factor, and Tinnghia’s trade office is practically in Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s back yard.

In fact, the “Walmart Home Office” sign was visible over Neeley’s left shoulder, as he professed plans to forge a multitude of international trade relationships at the grand opening ceremony. 

“Arkansas is not messing around when it comes to economic development and bringing jobs and opportunities back to our state and to our people,” he said.

 

Raw Material

Imports from Vietnam totaled $30.6 billion in 2014, while exports from the U.S. to Vietnam trailed behind at $5.7 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, so boosting U.S. imports is a priority for Dong Nai.

The first trade activity at the newly minted office will be the purchase of corn and soy beans from Arkansas farmers to make animal feed, and the company plans to buy other raw materials, such as cotton, timber and resin for the manufacturing of plastics, as well.

Tinnghia’s long-term plans in Arkansas include opening a coffee plant and also a furniture-assembly facility.

However, the local office must first be staffed. Tinnghia leadership is consulting with Made in USA Works and a local employment firm to hire two to four employees to work in the trade office, and two representatives from Dong Nai will also work in the office, Neeley said.

Reciprocally, the plan is for local companies, especially in the tech realm, to set up shop in Vietnam.

While the Communist system is still in power in Vietnam, Neeley believes that is not a road block for trade with the country.

“In my opinion, they fully embrace capitalism and they understand capitalism, and that’s why they understand the importance of trading with the U.S., and trading with them is going to be good for their people because of the influence of capitalism.

“Tinnghia will be doing business in our state, and Arkansas companies will be doing business with Tinnghia in Vietnam,” he said. “We can commit to you that this will happen.”

Neeley applauded Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s June 27 action to sign a trade agreement between Arkansas and Dong Nai and linked it to the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free trade agreement that would create new rules and standards for trade and business investment among the U.S. and several other Pacific Rim nations, including Vietnam.

 

TPP Talks

President Barack Obama on June 29 signed into law the Trade Promotion Authority, which gives the president fast-track authority to negotiate the TPP. And the deal, about 10 years in the making, could be finalized in the coming weeks.

Critics say the agreement would offshore American jobs, roll back Wall Street reforms and favor large corporations, and that patent measures in the deal have the potential to increase the cost of medicine.

Citing human rights concerns, some Democrats have also requested that the partnership require all countries involved to uphold core International Labor Organization principles like freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining and the effective abolition of child labor.

This issue was addressed in a joint statement from President Obama and Vietnam’s Communist Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong, following an unprecedented and controversial meeting between the two on July 7.

Although no specific actions or timeline was expressed, the statement said Vietnam would strive to make, “whatever reforms may be necessary to meet the high standards of the TPP agreement, including as necessary with respect to commitments relating to the 1998 ILO [International Labor Organization] Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.”

Supporters of the partnership say the agreement would be a shot in the arm for American exports, while enforcing labor rights in other countries.

President Obama has deemed the agreement as integral to strengthening diplomatic ties with countries that could stand up with the U.S. against China, which could potentially become a part of the agreement in the future.

 

Adversaries Turned Allies

Cotton, in his speech at the trade office opening ceremony, also avowed the importance of a positive relationship with Vietnam, alluding to increasingly assertive claims of sovereignty over islands and seas close to Vietnam and Japan, also part of the potential TPP.

Cotton also expressed the need for a hard line on social issues in the trade relationship. 

“The United States must continue our open dialogue regarding democracy and human rights. It is in the fertile soil of shared values that enduring relationships between nations take root and flourish,” Cotton said.

“It is my hope that the U.S. and Vietnam relationship will plant its roots in that soil, and if it does, it will grow as healthy, be as sturdy and stand as long as many of the old pine trees that dot the horizon here in Arkansas or the bamboo trees that span the Vietnamese countryside,” he said.

Cotton also spoke of the impact of the Vietnam War. “In the history of nations, our relationship has risen out of a dark period. That period was marked by deep mistrust, bloodshed and personal sacrifice and tragedy on both sides.

“Such wounds heal slowly, but heal they must, if we are to turn around our ties for the new era that will benefit both our peoples,” he said.

 

Two Anthems

The Vietnamese trade office is just the start of what Made in USA Works intends to do, Neeley said. His team has met with 30 countries’ embassies and more than 200 companies that are looking to bring manufacturing to the U.S.

Dana Davis, president of the Bentonville-Bella Vista chamber, expressed the importance of international trade to the region.

“As you all know, we have several large companies in our region, but we also have many small- to medium-sized companies and many startups, and international trade is becoming increasingly important to this market,” Davis said, during the ceremony.

And any relationship is boosted by mutual cultural tolerance. 

Early on in the June 30 ceremony, attendees stood in reverence as the U.S. national anthem was played, followed by the Vietnamese national anthem.

As dictated by Vietnamese tradition, Tinnghia chairman and CEO Quach Van Duc presented several golden-framed paintings to the business and government leaders, and key case wallets were given to those in attendance.

Mayor McCaslin also expressed his gratitude for Tinnghia’s choice to set up its trade office in Bentonville.

“I consider it a great compliment,” he said in his remarks. “We are honored that out of the entire U.S. you would choose Bentonville for your first trade office in the United States of America.

“This is the poster child for free enterprise — Northwest Arkansas.”