Vietnam's Free Trade Agreements: WTO, CPTPP, EVFTA, RCEP, UKVFTA
Vietnam is one of the most heavily networked trading nations in the world, with sixteen free trade agreements covering markets that account for roughly 60 per cent of global GDP.
Vietnam pursues trade openness as a deliberate national strategy. As of 2026 it is party to sixteen free trade agreements covering more than 60 trading partners, with two more under negotiation. Together these agreements have helped lift goods exports from around 50 billion US dollars in 2007 to roughly 380 billion in 2025.
What it is / Background
The pivot started with the 2001 US to Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement, which normalised market access to the United States and triggered the first surge of FDI into garments and footwear. WTO accession followed in January 2007 after twelve years of negotiation, locking in tariff and services-market commitments and making Vietnam attractive to a much wider range of foreign investors.
Bilateral and regional deals proliferated thereafter, accelerating sharply during the US to China trade tensions of the late 2010s, which positioned Vietnam as a favoured "China plus one" alternative.
Major agreements in force
WTO membership (2007): general most-favoured-nation tariff treatment with all WTO members; bound services commitments.
ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) (consolidated 2010, in effect for Vietnam since 1995 via AFTA): near-zero tariffs across the ten ASEAN countries.
ASEAN-plus FTAs: separate ASEAN-wide deals with China (2010), Korea (2007), Japan (2008), India (2010), Australia and New Zealand (2010), and Hong Kong (2019).
Vietnam-Japan EPA (2009) and Vietnam-Korea FTA (2015): deeper bilateral deals on top of the ASEAN-plus frameworks.
CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, in force for Vietnam January 2019): 11 Pacific economies including Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. The UK acceded in late 2024.
EVFTA (EU-Vietnam FTA, August 2020): tariff elimination on roughly 99 per cent of tariff lines over a 7 to 10 year phase-in. The accompanying EVIPA investment protection agreement is still pending ratification by all EU member states.
UKVFTA (UK-Vietnam FTA, May 2021): bilateral continuity agreement after Brexit, with terms broadly mirroring EVFTA.
RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, in force for Vietnam January 2022): 15 Asia-Pacific economies including all ASEAN, China, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Unified rules of origin across the bloc.
Other bilaterals: Chile, Eurasian Economic Union, Israel (2023), and a framework deal with the UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed 2024.
What's coming / Outlook
Active negotiations include an FTA with the EFTA bloc (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein), a Vietnam to Mercosur framework, and exploratory talks with Canada outside CPTPP for a deeper bilateral.
Compliance burden is the under-discussed cost. Rules of origin under CPTPP and EVFTA are strict (yarn-forward for garments, regional-value-content thresholds for electronics), and Vietnamese exporters often forgo preference for higher-input-content products simply because the paperwork is too complex. EU carbon-border adjustment (CBAM) from 2026 onwards is also reshaping export economics for steel, cement, aluminium, fertiliser, hydrogen and electricity.
What this means for visitors, expats and businesses
For importers buying from Vietnam into CPTPP, EU, UK, Japan or Korea markets, preferential tariffs (often zero) apply with a valid certificate of origin. Sourcing offices in HCMC and Hanoi handle the paperwork as a routine matter.
For consumers in Vietnam, EVFTA and UKVFTA gradually cut tariffs on European wine, cheese, cosmetics and cars; CPTPP has done the same on Japanese and Australian beef, fruit and wine. Korean and Japanese cars under VJEPA and VKFTA already enjoy reduced duties, which is one reason Toyota, Honda and Mazda dominate the new-car market.
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