Clinton administration officials are on the verge of recommending the end of the U.S. trade embargo against Vietnam but are waiting to see how the idea is greeted by the president's close aides, The Washington Post reported Friday.
Dropping the embargo was discussed at a meeting to assess a trip to Vietnam earlier this month by Assistant Secretary of State Winston Lord. "There were some good reasons for doing it," according to an unnamed senior administration official cited by the newspaper.It was decided to wait until after the holidays to "do a temperature-taking of people on the president's team," the official told The Post.
Ending the economic embargo against Vietnam is politically sensitive because the fate of hundreds of American servicemen missing from the war has not been determined.
Vietnam has recently been more cooperative on the issue, but not to the satisfaction of relatives of the missing servicemen or some members of Congress.