Graves for a Golf Course: The Social Cost of Trump International Hưng Yên

Expected to transform a stretch of land along the Red River into an international destination, the Trump International Hưng Yên project presents a starkly different reality on the ground. 

Local residents are required to relocate ancestral graves, surrender agricultural land, and face uncertain livelihoods after losing their family fields. 

Promoted as the driver of economic growth and stronger U.S.–Việt Nam relations, the development threatens to inflict cultural harm, deepen social grievances, and raise serious questions about the fairness of Việt Nam’s land policies.

$1.5 Billion Mega-project

Commercially branded as Trump International Hưng Yên, the Khoái Châu Urban, Ecotourism, and Golf Complex spans the Châu Ninh, Khoái Châu, and Chí Minh communes in Hưng Yên Province. 

Covering more than 888 hectares (about 2,195 acres) with a total investment exceeding $1.5 billion, the development features ecological residential areas, commercial urban zones, a themed park, and a 54-hole golf complex. [1]

Hưng Yên Investment and Development Group JSC serves as the primary investor, with Kinh Bắc City Development Holding Corporation holding the majority of the charter capital. To put its immense scale into perspective, the project is comparable in size to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. [2]

State media have praised the development as a “mega-project,” positioning it as a high-end regional complex and a new symbol of Hưng Yên Province’s urban development, service-sector growth, and tourism ambitions. [3] 

Furthermore, former Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính has described the development as “important in strengthening Việt Nam–U.S. relations and promoting confidence among foreign investors, especially those from the United States.” [4]

Local authorities have emphasized the need to accelerate land clearance while ensuring transparency and regulatory compliance. They have pledged to work alongside investors to implement social welfare policies and create jobs for residents displaced by the land acquisition. [5] 

By mid-March 2026, authorities had already issued notices to recover more than 508 hectares of land. They also completed surveys and inventories on more than 501 hectares, prepared compensation plans for over 438 hectares, approved plans for 199 hectares, paid compensation on 83.2 hectares, and relocated more than 3,500 graves. [6]

Erasing Memory and Livelihood for Luxury

The rapid implementation of the project has generated intense controversy, particularly regarding the relocation of more than 3,500 graves. In Vietnamese culture, people do not treat ancestral graves as mere physical objects that can be moved at will for site clearance. 

They are the sacred resting places carrying profound meanings tied to filial piety, bloodlines, wartime memories, and the fundamental belief that the dead should rest undisturbed. 

Hence, forcing families to exhume the remains of their parents, grandparents, and children for the Trump International Hưng Yên luxury development inflicts profound emotional loss that cannot be rectified by compensation alone.

In Châu Ninh Commune, for instance, residents dismantled a decades-old cemetery that sat amid fruit orchards. Many reported that someone instructed them to relocate these graves while they received compensation that failed to reflect their true losses. 

One farmer described the situation as “a spiritual matter,” emphasizing that locals did not want to disturb their ancestors. Another resident, with five relatives buried in the slated cemetery, stated, “My great-grandparents’ graves have been there since 1967, before this country was established. So why should I move them?” [7]

This development highlights a severe disconnect between local economic ambitions and the devastation felt by affected communities. 

While the government’s steadfast commitment to proceed may be justified by macroeconomic and diplomatic goals—such as maintaining favorable relations with a Trump administration that last year threatened tariffs of 46% on Vietnamese exports [8]—the project simultaneously uproots family histories and cultural traditions that may never be fully restored.

Beyond the cultural aspect, the greatest controversy revolves around financial compensation. 

Some farmers reported offers ranging from 300,000 đồng to 800,000 đồng (approximately $12–$32 USD) per square meter of agricultural land, supplemented by crop payments and temporary rice assistance. One farmer was reportedly offered about 84 million đồng and rice to surrender land that had supported their family for years. [9] 

Similarly, the French newspaper Le Monde reported compensation rates of approximately 80,000 đồng per square meter during an earlier phase, citing residents who argued this was drastically below actual land values and future livelihood losses. [11]

However, it must be noted that the Trump Organization is not directly responsible for these payments; Vietnamese developers are managing the project, while the Trump Organization receives licensing fees and will operate the club upon completion. [10] 

The differing financial figures may reflect variations in land classifications and compensation phases, but the core grievance remains: residents feel they have no power to negotiate in a strictly commercial endeavor.

National Interests, Local Casualties, and Media Silence

The decision to build the luxury complex clearly stems from identifiable interests and strategic calculations.

For Hà Nội, the development may signal goodwill toward a Trump administration known for its transactional diplomacy. 

For investors, it represents a lucrative opportunity to monetize the Trump brand in an expanding market, while for Hưng Yên Province, it offers a chance to elevate its status on the global investment map. 

The project delivers strategic benefits at the national and corporate levels; however, residents at the village level largely bear the costs. 

For many families in Châu Ninh Commune, the reality is deeply painful as they see farmland disappear, exhumed ancestral graves, and highly uncertain future livelihoods.

Viewed broadly, this situation highlights a longstanding flaw in Việt Nam’s urban development model. 

Land acquisition is frequently justified under the banner of socioeconomic development. However, because residents hold only land-use rights, they possess extremely limited bargaining power once the state decides to recover the land. 

As a result, many previous land disputes have centered on the gap between administratively determined compensation rates and the actual market value of the land or the livelihoods tied to it.

This systemic issue raises a fundamental question regarding who advocates for the affected residents, and the resulting media landscape provides an answer that is both encouraging and discouraging. 

International media have demonstrated considerable interest, driven partly by ethical concerns over a U.S. president’s family brand benefiting from overseas developments. Meanwhile, domestic outlets have reported extensively on the project’s scale, land-clearance progress, and official calls for transparency.

Yet, mainstream domestic media has provided limited attention to the voices of local residents, particularly regarding their spiritual distress and economic anxieties. State-controlled media have maintained a strict focus on project opportunities and regulatory compliance. 

By contrast, details concerning residents’ objections, [12] dissatisfaction with compensation, and the forced relocation of graves have been reported almost exclusively by international outlets and independent media outside the official system. [13] On the human cost of the development, domestic reporting remains notably restrained.

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Hưng Yên Province desperately needs new engines of growth amid fierce provincial competition for investment, but development cannot proceed blindly. Massive projects tied to national prestige require meaningful community consultation, transparent compensation policies, and a respect for local cultural and spiritual values.

If the government chooses to view this venture exclusively through a macroeconomic lens, it invites long-term social instability fueled by deep-seated resentment. 

Ultimately, Trump International Hưng Yên risks standing not as a monument to economic ambition, but as a controversial symbol of financial inequity, silenced local voices, and the callous erasure of a community’s spiritual heritage.

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Nguyễn Thái wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on June 1, 2026. Đàm Vĩnh Hằng translated it into English for The Vietnamese Magazine.