This paper considers the international trade effect in the relationship between financial leverage and firm performance. It find out the answer to whether the impact of the financial leverage on internationally - oriented firms are stronger than on domestically – oriented ones. The paper use ordinary least squares, two - stage least squares and generalized method of moments to analyze data sample consisting of 107 enterprises in the period 2007-2015. Research results show that the international

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... trade affects negatively the relationship between financial leverage and performance in Vietnamese firms. The effect of financial leverage in internationally - oriented firms are more than in domestically – oriented firms. Besides, other factors such as Vietnam's interest rate, firm age, and firm size also affect negatively on firms' performance. However, economic growth factor has a positive impact on the increase of assets' return. In addition, the research points out that the large scale of business will offset the negative effects of financial leverage on performance.