Vietnamese authorities have confiscated thousands of counterfeit luxury products, including fake Rolex watches and Prada handbags, during a raid at Saigon Square Shopping Mall in Ho Chi Minh City, state media reported Friday.
The operation marks a high-profile step in Vietnam’s intensifying crackdown on counterfeit goods and digital piracy, a campaign spurred by mounting pressure from the United States, which has threatened punitive tariffs and labeled Vietnam a major hub for counterfeit trade.
According to state radio broadcaster VOV, the seizure also included alleged fake products mimicking several other luxury brands, such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Hermès, and Longines.
“All of these products show signs of counterfeiting genuine goods, seriously affecting the interests of consumers as well as the reputation of protected brands in Vietnam,” the country’s market surveillance department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said in a statement.
High-Profile Target
Saigon Square, a prominent shopping venue popular with tourists and locals, had already been identified in January by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) as one of the world’s "notorious markets for counterfeiting". Earlier this month, Reuters reported that fake luxury goods were openly displayed at the mall.
An employee at the mall, speaking anonymously, confirmed the raid to Reuters, but distanced management from the vendors' activities.
“We lease the space to the sellers and are not aware of the origins and authenticity of the products they sell,” the employee said.
International Pressure and Trade Risks
The seizure underscores Vietnam’s response to growing international scrutiny. Washington has previously warned that Vietnam’s failure to curb counterfeit trade and digital piracy could trigger trade penalties, including tariffs on key exports.
With Vietnam playing an increasingly vital role in global supply chains, particularly in electronics, textiles, and consumer goods, compliance with intellectual property protections is becoming a strategic trade issue for Hanoi.
Further inspections and enforcement actions are expected as authorities signal a broader effort to clean up the country’s image and improve compliance with international trade norms.
Less than two weeks after signing of agreements between Iran and Russia on nuclear energy production, Tehran and Moscow have begun discussions to impl...
South Korea on Friday summoned Cambodia’s ambassador to lodge a protest over the death of a South Korean student in the country and raised its trave...
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has called for a joint action between Central Asian countries and Russia to address shrinkage of the Cas...
Leaders of CIS member states signed an agreement establishing the new ‘CIS Plus’ format at a summit in Dushanbe, expanding the organisation’s fr...
Kabul was rocked by a powerful explosion late Thursday night, with multiple witnesses reporting the sound of fighter jets flying over the city’s air...
The death toll in Vietnam from Typhoon Bualoi and the floods it triggered has risen to 36, according to a Thursday (2 October) report from the government's disaster management agency.
Laotian President Thongloun Sisoulith will visit North Korea at the invitation of leader Kim Jong Un for celebrations commemorating the country's ruling party on 10 October, state news agency KCNA announced.
Vietnam's most devastating storm this year brought heavy rains that triggered floods across its north, disrupting flights and train services with the capital, Hanoi, where schools were closed and many homes inundated, authorities said on Tuesday.
Vietnam shut airports and evacuated thousands of residents on Sunday as Typhoon Bualoi intensified and bore down on the country, just days after leaving at least 10 people dead and triggering severe flooding in the Philippines.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 13 September with no tsunami threat, coming just weeks after the region endured a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake — the strongest since 1952.
South Korea on Friday summoned Cambodia’s ambassador to lodge a protest over the death of a South Korean student in the country and raised its travel advisory for Phnom Penh amid a surge in online scam cases targeting Korean nationals.
Leaders of CIS member states signed an agreement establishing the new ‘CIS Plus’ format at a summit in Dushanbe, expanding the organisation’s framework for cooperation with other states and regional bodies.
Large parts of Kyiv were plunged into darkness in the early hours of Friday after Russian drones and missiles struck Ukrainian energy facilities, cutting power and water to homes and halting a key metro link across the Dnipro river.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for promoting democratic rights in her country and her struggle to achieve a transition to democracy, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.
Today, 10 October, the CIS Heads of State Council meeting is underway in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in a limited format attended by leaders from member states.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment