The Vietnamese government has approved the Trump Organization’s plans to invest US$1.5 billion developing a luxury golf and urban project in northern Vietnam while the US President Donald Trump’s import tariffs loom large over the nation’s manufacturing industry.

The high-end golf course and urban complex project will be built on a site of more than 990 hectares in Hung Yen, the home province of To Lam, Vietnam’s Communist party chief and “number one leader”, according to the approval decision signed by deputy prime minister Tran Hong Ha.

Construction of the project, which will involve two golf courses, one with 36 holes and the other with 18, and housing for 35,000 residents, is set to begin in the second quarter of this year and continue through to the same period of 2029.

The project developer, proposed by the Trump Organization’s, is a consortium between IDG Capital Vietnam and Hung Yen Investment and Development Joint Stock Company. IDG Capital Vietnam represents the Trump Organization in Vietnam.

Charles James Boyd-Bowman, CEO of IDG Capital Vietnam, met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi late March to discuss the project. A few days later, President Trump announced his sweeping international tariff policy, which included a 46% reciprocal tariff on imports from Vietnam. Soon after, Trump paused imposing the tariffs on Vietnam until July, with trade talks between representatives from the two countries’ governments scheduled.