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The
upgrade places the EU on the same diplomatic footing as the
United States, China and Russia and was announced during a visit
to Hanoi by European Council President António Costa.
“At a moment when the international rules-based order is under
threat from multiple sides, we need to stand side by side as
reliable and predictable partners,” Costa said, adding that the
partnership is about “developing spheres of shared prosperity.”
Costa arrived in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi after India and
the European Union reached a free trade agreement on Tuesday
after nearly two decades of negotiation.
Vietnam’s President Luong Cuong called the move a “historic
milestone.”
The announcement comes less than a week after Vietnam reelected
Communist Party General Secretary To Lam as the country’s top
leader, endorsing his vision of economic growth driven by
aggressive reforms.
Vietnam has been a major beneficiary of globalization, emerging
as a key export hub for electronics, garments and consumer goods
as multinational firms shifted production away from China.
That export-led growth has helped lift incomes and transform the
economy, but Vietnam’s large and persistent trade surplus has
drawn criticism, particularly from the U.S. and increasingly
from Europe, where officials have raised concerns about market
access.
For the EU, the deal strengthens access to one of Asia’s
fastest-growing manufacturing hubs and supports efforts to
diversify supply chains as trade tensions increase.
Bilateral trade in the first 11 months of 2025 reached more than
$66.8 billion, up 6.6% from a year earlier. The EU is Vietnam’s
fourth-largest trading partner, third-largest export market and
fifth-largest import source. Vietnam is the EU’s biggest trading
partner in Southeast Asia.
Vietnam hopes to continue growth to become a rich nation by 2045
and is aggressively seeking new markets to reduce reliance on
the U.S., which is its largest export destination that absorbs
about 30% of the goods Vietnam sends abroad. The two sides
signed a free trade agreement in 2020.
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