Vietnam's plans to mitigate the Trump administration's trade gap concerns have now come to a coastal commune, best known for growing dragon fruit.
The community could soon be home to a US$5 billion liquefied natural gas project that would include an import terminal and gas-fired power plant and eventually import billions of dollars of US fuel into the country.
The project is being fast-tracked with the blessing of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc as part of a push to buy American products in Vietnam, where the Communist government has embarked on a crash course in modern US politics.
John Rockhold is an engineer, shepherding infrastructure projects in Vietnam. He is country director of Energy Capital Vietnam, which is leading a consortium of companies backing the development on salt beds in southern Binh Thuan province: "I think they see LNG as a way of lowering the trade deficit the US has with Vietnam. There is a lot of pressure from the White House right now."
