YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A trade delegation from Vietnam – scheduled to arrive in the Mahoning Valley Oct. 1 – has the potential of developing stronger business ties that could boost exports and diversify the local economy’s global supply chain, specialists say.
“We have a growing relationship with Vietnam,” says Mousa Kassis, director of the Ohio Small Business Development Center’s Export Assistance Network at Youngstown State University. “Since 2018, trade between the U.S. and Vietnam has almost doubled to $126 billion.”
Kassis envisions Ohio and western Pennsylvania as important players in future economic deals with the country. Ohio alone, he says, does approximately $4.7 billion worth of business with Vietnam.
“There’s potential to grow and we haven’t even scratched the surface,” he says.
The trade mission is a collaboration between the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce Ho Chi Minh City branch and the Export Assistance Network. Other partners include YSU, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, Columbiana County Port Authority, Lake to River Economic Development, and Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus.
The visit is in response to an earlier trip to Vietnam that the Export Assistance Center’s partner, the Ohio Pennsylvania Stateline Export Initiative, arranged in 2019. Then, representatives of 10 companies from Ohio and western Pennsylvania – including Rickenbacker International Airport – traveled to Bangkok, Thailand, and Ho Chi Minh City to establish productive business relationships, Kassis says. “Rickenbacker’s trade with Vietnam has now surpassed that of China,” he says. “We’re playing a major role not just here, but across the entire state.”
Vietnam’s delegation will visit for four days, between Oct.1 and Oct. 4, Kassis says. Its arrival will include an opening ceremony the first day and business-to-business meetings on Oct. 2 at YSU. “It’ll be sort of matchmaking,” he says, aligning local companies with potential Vietnamese business partners. The delegation is then scheduled to visit and tour companies in the region.
“This will be a great event for the Valley to show the world who we are,” Kassis remarks.
While Vietnamese companies are exploring ways to sell into the U.S. market, they are also navigating opportunities to buy products from local manufacturers and distributors, Kassis says.
“They want to sell products to Ohio, and they want to buy products from Ohio,” he says. “The benefits are tremendous. It strengthens the global supply chain and diversifies their import and export base. Now you have a variety of where you want to sell or buy.”
Demand for Ohio-made products is high, according to Kassis.
The 31-strong Vietnamese delegation represents a variety of industries seeking to export and import to Ohio, says Mariah Carna, international trade specialist with the Export Assistance Network.
Those Vietnamese companies seeking to export to Ohio, for example, include industries engaged in natural rubber, healthcare/beauty products, plastics and the food and beverage industries. The companies looking to import products from the region represent machinery industries, wastewater treatment equipment businesses, plastics and other ventures.
“We hope to do more of these,” Carna says, noting there are plans to put together a visit to India in 2025.
This is the first trade mission that the Export Assistance Center has hosted in the Mahoning Valley, although it has been part of previous delegations abroad, Kassis says. Last year, the organization sponsored two local companies on a trade effort to Poland and Hungary.
Guy Coviello, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, says the Vietnamese delegation was initially scheduled to visit Texas, but changed its plans after an invitation was tendered to visit Youngstown. “They said they wanted to spend the entire time with us,” he says. “I think that says a lot. There’s something about us that prompted that shift.”
Coviello says he’d like to see a delegation from this region return to Vietnam next year. “We’re all coming together to make sure this turns out to be a great opportunity for our companies to expand through exports and help gain advantages through additional supply chain options,” he says.
The chamber is no stranger to overseas trade delegations, Coviello says. A Taiwan visit, for example, helped place the Mahoning Valley on the radar of Taiwan-based Foxconn, which ended up purchasing and occupying the former General Motors Lordstown Assembly plant. That company today serves as a contract manufacturer for the MK-V, an electric, autonomous tractor designed by Monarch Tractor.
Moreover, Coviello says that such business trips are vital to boost export activity in the Mahoning Valley. “About 15% of our local economy is based on exporting,” he says. “We would like to see that increase to 17%,” which translates into another $500 million a year into the local economy, he adds.
There’s no industry or product that is favored during these trips, Coviello says. It is more important to establish a relationship with the country first and allow business relationships to emerge, which could take years to manifest.
“We’re open to everything,” he says. “It’s just a matter of developing a relationship with other countries.”
A trade excursion to Iceland could come as soon as next year, Coviello adds. Former Ohio State Sen. Capri Cafaro serves as a business consultant to that country and is a driving force behind an effort to connect the Mahoning and Shenango valleys with business opportunities there. The potential for a trade mission to Iceland is even more practical since Pittsburgh International Airport now offers nonstop flights to Iceland’s capital city, Reykjavik.
“We’ve had discussions about a trade delegation coming here, and also a trade mission to Iceland,” he says, noting the local chamber is working closely with the Chamber of Commerce of Iceland and the organization Business Iceland. More details should come in early October, he says.
Cafaro plans to attend a business convention in Iceland at the end of September and a Mahoning and Shenango Valley trade mission is expected to be part of the discussion.
“She’s taking information about us to that conference, and that will dictate the timing on how we move forward with this,” he says.
Pictured at top: Mousa Kassis pictured in Ho Chi Minh City in 2019 during his first visit to Vietnam.