Vietnam is about to signal a European Free Commerce Affiliation (EFTA) this week, as Hanoi closes in on a remaining commerce settlement with the USA.
Reuters reported yesterday that the settlement with the EFTA bloc, which consists of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, will probably be signed in Hanoi on Sunday within the presence of Swiss Financial system Minister Man Parmelin, who’s at the moment on a visit to Asia.
The talks between Vietnam and the ETFA started in 2012 and have proceeded at a gradual tempo since. The 2 sides formally concluded the negotiations in July, following a ministerial assembly in Reykjavik that concerned “intensive technical talks.”
On the time, the ETFA said that the settlement lined “commerce in items, commerce in providers, guidelines of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical obstacles to commerce, funding, mental property rights, commerce treatments, authorities procurement, commerce and sustainable growth, small and medium-sized enterprises, and cooperation and capability constructing.” Bilateral commerce between EFTA and Vietnam amounted to $5.4 billion in 2025, up from round $561 million a decade earlier, in line with the bloc.
Hovering over the deliberate signing ceremony is Vietnam’s latest arrest of a Norwegian nationwide of Vietnamese descent on terrorism-related costs. Nguyen Duc Thuan, 52, was amongst three activists from the pro-democracy group Viet Tan whom the Vietnamese authorities mentioned have been arrested for coming into the nation illegally. Rights teams, in addition to Viet Tan itself, say that the three males have been kidnapped in Cambodia, though Phnom Penh mentioned that it had no report of the boys leaving the nation.
In line with Reuters, Norway’s International Ministry mentioned that State Secretary Astrid Bergmal, who will attend the signing ceremony, “will increase the case of the detained Norwegian citizen with the Vietnamese authorities throughout her go to.” The Ministry added that it was treating Thuan’s case “as a excessive precedence” and expressed hope that it “could also be resolved with out pointless delay.”
The approaching signing of the EFTA deal comes as Vietnam and the U.S. transfer towards the signing of their Settlement on Reciprocal, Truthful, and Balanced Commerce.
Vietnam has despatched its “remaining wording” for a commerce settlement to the U.S. with hopes the deal may be rapidly signed, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Tuc instructed a enterprise summit yesterday, in line with Nikkei Asia.
Hanoi and Washington started negotiations on the commerce deal in April 2025, shortly after President Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariff announcement, when Vietnam was hit with an eye-popping 46 % tariff. The 2 nations signed a framework for a commerce settlement in October that lowered the tariff price by 20 %, however regardless of months of negotiations, they’ve but to achieve a remaining settlement.
The negotiations have been held up by the turbidity in U.S. commerce coverage. Vietnam is at the moment the topic of quite a lot of Part 301 investigations that the Trump administration has been utilizing to get across the Supreme Courtroom ruling in February that struck down the sweeping “liberation day” tariffs.
Vietnam was amongst 60 nations that the Workplace of the U.S. Commerce Consultant threatened in June with tariffs of 10-12.5 % on account of their alleged failures to take motion on pressured labor. It is usually the topic of separate Part 301 probes into alleged extra manufacturing capability and mental property rights.
After assembly with Vietnamese President To Lam in New York final month, U.S. Commerce Consultant Jamieson Greer mentioned that the 2 sides had made “substantial progress” and have been “very near reaching the ultimate end result.”
Vietnam signed a free commerce settlement with the European Union in 2020.
