Vietnam and the European Union have upgraded ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, Vietnam’s highest diplomatic level.
This comes as both recalibrate trade amid disruptions to global finance driven by US tariff pressure.
This marks the EU’s first Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in Southeast Asia. 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.
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.
Costa stressed that the upgrade fully captures the depth and breadth of “our collaboration to date, and our expectations for its future evolution – on trade, on green and digital transition, on security, on people-to-people ties” and reflects “how closely our future is now linked.”
He stated that the EU and Hanoi are “reliable and predictable partners, united by a strong commitment to the international rules-based order, to multilateralism, and to peace and stability.”
“At a moment when international rules-based order is under threat from multiple sides, we need to stand side by side as reliable and predictable partners.
“It is about developing spheres of shared prosperity. But it is also about the credibility of international rules. That is why our partnership matters beyond our own regions.”
European Council President António Costa
According to a statement released by the EU, cooperation will also be explored in areas such as energy security, including strengthened exchanges on mechanisms for crisis preparedness.
It added that both sides identify maritime safety and security, cybersecurity and crisis management as key areas for further cooperation, based on mutual respect for each side’s interests and priorities.
The EU and major exporters like Vietnam are seeking more cross-border agreements in the wake of Trump’s rollout of tariffs, to diversify their markets and sources of goods.
Vietnam has been building global ties for years, and has comprehensive strategic partnerships, its highest-level agreement, with the US, China, Russia, Japan, India, UK, France and Australia.
Vietnam Hails Upgraded Ties
Vietnam’s President Luong Cuong called the move a “historic milestone.”
Julien Guerrier, EU Ambassador to Vietnam, told reporters in Hanoi on Monday that the push for upgraded relations “is a message to the world that we want to reinforce our partnerships with countries like India, like Vietnam.”
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 US 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 US, 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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