Vietnam is attempting to reform its bureaucracy to stimulate investment and complete stalled projects, aiming for 10% annual growth. However, US tariffs and a fuel crisis pose significant threats to these ambitions.

A bonfire of red tape to unleash investment and complete stalled projects across Vietnam may drive economic expansion but is unlikely to offset the damage caused by US tariffs and the fuel crisis which have threatened the country’s growth ambitions. Vietnam’s Communist Party General-Secretary and President To Lam, the most powerful leader in a generation, has set an annual growth target of 10 per cent until 2030 to galvanise a nation whose ponderous bureaucracy has snarled private investment and...