U.S.-Vietnam diplomatic and economic relations remained essentially frozen for more than a decade after the 1975 communist victory in South Vietnam. Over the past decade, Washington and Hanoi have normalized relations incrementally. Congress has played a significant role in the normalization process.

U.S.-Vietnam diplomatic and economic relations were non-existent for more then fifteen years following communist North Vietnam’s victory in 1975 over the U.S. ally South Vietnam. Normalization of relations, particularly in the economic sphere, between the United States and unified Vietnam began in earnest in the 1990s. As the normalization process has proceeded, the U.S. has eliminated most of the Cold Warera restrictions on U.S. aid to Vietnam, and U.S. assistance has increased markedly from around $1 million when assistance was resumed in 1991 to nearly $50 million in FY2004.