Today, we started our day out by going to the Cat Lai Terminal to learn about the logistics of Vietnam. At this port, we wore hard hats and neon vests as we drove around on a tour. The port was absolutely massive, with giant shipping crates stacked on top of each other forming a maze-like structure throughout. We also saw numerous gigantic cargo ships docked at the port as they unloaded their large shipments. We would stop at some parts of the port to quickly walk around and see large amounts of rice being carried on conveyor belts and massive warehouses full of goods that were being moved in and out of Vietnam. While large-scale logistics like this are unrelated to my bioengineering studies at Pitt, I find it to be very interesting, and it can provide insight into how to manage your professional life. To see how these people manage such large quantities of goods is insightful for how I can organize myself in my daily life and my tasks.

After this tour, we headed to the U.S. consulate in Ho Chi Minh City. Here we learned about economic growth in Vietnam and different things that have affected trade between the U.S. and Vietnam. First, we started after the Vietnam War and went through what had to happen to develop Vietnam and the U.S. as strong allies and trading partners. We learned about Vietnam’s most important exports, from cellphones to rice, and we learned about how many companies would finish production in Vietnam so they could export to the U.S. at a cheaper cost. While I am not a business student, I found some of these topics to be extremely relevant to the whole issue going on with the tariffs right now. It was interesting to hear about how Vietnam was very in favor of a Trump presidency because, in his first term, he harmed the U.S. trade with China, which benefited Vietnam, but now they do not feel the same. During the discussion, we learned that any tariff over 20% makes it nearly impossible for Vietnamese citizens and businesses to sustain themselves. We also learned about how certain nations have managed to be good at certain job markets, and if the U.S. really wanted to bring these businesses back from Vietnam, it would take billions of dollars and many extreme modifications to higher education so there could be a trained workforce for these jobs, which is why this is highly unlikely to happen in large effect.

After spending most of our day learning about economics and logistics, we got to visit the Banh Thanh market, where we got scammed by many elderly ladies. All joking aside, everyone in the Banh Thanh market is there to make money, so all of their goods have a very steep price to them, but that’s why we came. We visited this market so that we could barter to practice our Vietnamese and our judgment. We also had backups with our Vietnamese friends to help us know if we paid too much for our goods, and they made sure to let us know. I had some very successful purchasing, knocking prices down from eight dollars to two dollars, but I had other times where I just bought the item anyway because it was already cheaper than goods in the U.S. Overall, the bustling market was a great experience and an exciting way to collect our last-minute souvenirs and gifts.