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European Council President Antonio Costa, left, and Vietnamese President Luong Cuong shake arms in Hanoi, Vietnam, Jan. 29. VNA by way of AP-Yonhap
HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam and the European Union on Thursday upgraded ties to a complete strategic partnership, Vietnam’s highest diplomatic stage, as each recalibrate commerce amid disruptions to international finance pushed by U.S. tariff stress.
The improve locations the EU on the identical diplomatic footing as the USA , China and Russia and was introduced throughout a go to to Hanoi by European Council President António Costa .
“At a second when the worldwide rules-based order is beneath menace from a number of sides, we have to stand aspect by aspect as dependable and predictable companions,” Costa stated, including that the partnership is about “growing spheres of shared prosperity.”
Costa arrived within the Vietnamese capital Hanoi after India and the European Union reached a free commerce settlement on Tuesday after almost twenty years of negotiation.
Vietnam’s President Luong Cuong referred to as the transfer a “historic milestone.”
The announcement comes lower than per week after Vietnam reelected Communist Social gathering Basic Secretary To Lam because the nation’s prime chief, endorsing his imaginative and prescient of financial development pushed by aggressive reforms.
Vietnam has been a significant beneficiary of globalization, rising as a key export hub for electronics, clothes and client items as multinational companies shifted manufacturing away from China.
That export-led development has helped carry incomes and rework the financial system, however Vietnam’s giant and chronic commerce surplus has drawn criticism, notably from the U.S. and more and more from Europe, the place officers have raised issues about market entry.
For the EU, the deal strengthens entry to one in every of Asia’s fastest-growing manufacturing hubs and helps efforts to diversify provide chains as commerce tensions enhance.
Bilateral commerce within the first 11 months of 2025 reached greater than $66.8 billion, up 6.6 p.c from a 12 months earlier. The EU is Vietnam’s fourth-largest buying and selling companion, third-largest export market and fifth-largest import supply. Vietnam is the EU’s largest buying and selling companion in Southeast Asia.
Vietnam hopes to proceed development to change into a wealthy nation by 2045 and is aggressively in search of new markets to cut back reliance on the U.S., which is its largest export vacation spot that absorbs about 30 p.c of the products Vietnam sends overseas. The 2 sides signed a free commerce settlement in 2020.
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