While it is expected that greater liberalisation will boost economic growth and contribute to the country’s market economy transition, there are concerns about potentially negative impacts on vulnerable groups, including remote rural populations, women and children. To explore the possible impacts of Vietnam’s trade liberalisation on children in poor communities, this paper examines key mediating factors that impact child well-being and the ways trade liberalisation could affect these variables. It employs a sequential mixed methods approach: econometrics analysis of household survey data followed by complementary in-depth qualitative analysis of two key agricultural commodity sectors, aquaculture and sugarcane, expected to be significantly impacted by Vietnam’s integration into the world economy.