- April 30 : The last Americans flee Saigon as the South Vietnamese capital falls to communist forces. A US trade embargo, already in effect against North Vietnam since 1964, is extended to the whole of Vietnam.
1977-1978
- May 3, 1977: The United States opens normalization talks with Vietnam, which was officially reunified in July 1976. The talks end in failure on October 11, 1978 and then President Jimmy Carter gives priority to normalizing ties with Beijing.
1982-1983
- Washington and Hanoi hold talks on repatriation to the United States of children of mixed US-Vietnamese couples and on the search for US servicemen missing in action (MIAs)
1986
- October : The two countries begin joint searches of remains of MIAs.
1987
- Vietnam authorizes foreign investment.
1990
- US Secretary of State James Baker meets in New York with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Co Tach, the first meeting at this level.
1991
- April : The first US official trade delegation visits Hanoi.
1992
- Dec 14 : President George Bush allows US companies to open representative offices in Vietnam and to sign contracts once the US trade embargo is lifted.
1993
- April 25 : The first US company, Vatico (consultancy), opens an office in Vietnam.
- July 2 : President Clinton authorizes the International Monetary Fund to refinance Vietnam's foreign debt (140 million dollars), clearing the way for Vietnam to receive international financial aid after 18 years of isolation.
- Sept 14 : Clinton allows US firms to take part in development projects financed by international institutions in Vietnam.
1994
- Feb 4 : Clinton announces the lifting of the trade embargo against Vietnam, a week after it is approved by the US Senate.
1995
- Jan 28 : The two countries announce the opening of liaison offices.
- July 11: Clinton announces Washington is to establish diplomatic relations with Hanoi.
- Aug 5 : Warren Christopher inaugurates the US embassy in Hanoi as he pays the first official visit by a US secretary of state since 1970.
1996
- April 1996: The United States hands Vietnam a document setting out its requirements for the normalization of trade ties.
- May 24: Clinton picks Douglas Peterson, who spent six and a half years as prisoner of war in North Vietnam, as US ambassador to Hanoi.
1997
- June 26/27: US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visits Vietnam.
1998
- March 11 : Clinton grants a waiver to Vietnam that excludes it from the the Jackson-Vanick amendment barring full economic normalization with any communist state that does not allow freedom of emigration.
- Oct 1 : Vietnamese deputy prime minister Nguyen Manh Cam visits the Pentagon, the first Vietnamese minister to pay an official US visit since the Vietnam war.
1999
- Jan : Vietnam has returned 506 sets of remains of US servicemen GI's since 1973.
- July 25 : Vietnam signs a trade protocol with Washington aimed at opening its market to foreign competition in exchange for greater access to the US market for its exports. Hanoi freezes the accord on October 17.
2000
- March 13 : US Defense Secretary William Cohen pays an official visit to Vietnam.
- June 19 : Washington pledges 1.7 million dollars in humanitarian aid to help Vietnam detect and destroy mines and unexploded ordnance.
- July 13: The two sides sign a landmark trade agreement a quarter of a century after the end of the Vietnam War.
- Sept 14: The White House announces that Clinton will pay an official visit to Hanoi in mid-November, after attending a meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Brunei.
For a comprehensive chronology of SEA, please see - http://www.aiipowmia.com/ssc/vnchron.html