This article focuses on the operational dynamic of informal small-scale trade in the Sino-Vietnamese borderlands as disclosed by local traders’ strategies of negotiation. It questions the impact of financial transaction practices – management of official fees and procedures related to payments – on the sustainability of cross-border trade. It engages with the notion of “trust” and stresses its significance in a space where the vagaries of trade policies challenge business rules, and contest the local power hierarchy. It argues that despite the principles underlying “trustful cooperation” being unevenly adhered to, traders manage to adjust to one another’s methods, revealing the nature of their tacit complicity in maintaining business logistics regardless of the limits imposed by national policies, institutional regulations and stereotypes.

中文翻译：

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“信任促进商业，但也可能毁掉它”：中越边境贸易的危险方面

本文重点研究当地贸易商谈判策略所揭示的中越边境非正式小规模贸易的运作动态。它质疑金融交易实践——官方费用管理和与支付相关的程序——对跨境贸易可持续性的影响。它涉及“信任”的概念，并强调其在变幻莫测的贸易政策挑战商业规则并与地方权力等级竞争的空间中的重要性。它认为，尽管“信任合作”的基本原则没有得到一致遵守，但贸易商设法适应彼此的方法，揭示了他们在维持商业物流方面的默契性质，而不受国家政策、制度规定和陈规定型观念的限制。