“…In our paper, we assume that the bottleneck, which refers to the minimum value of logistics performance between Vietnam and its trading partner, may influence its imports. In the related literature, the bottleneck effect is well documented, emphasizing the importance of identifying and removing the bottlenecks to improve the system performance (Li et al, 2023;Mizgier et al, 2013). The presence of bottlenecks resulting from an imbalance in logistical performance between two trading countries has the potential to impede bilateral trade.…”