Vietnam and EFTA sign free trade deal after decade of talks

Vietnam and EFTA signed a free trade agreement in Hanoi on October 18, 2026, closing negotiations that opened in 2012 and ran 14 years. Le Manh Hung signed for Vietnam; Guy Parmelin, Brigitte Haas, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir and Astrid Bergmål signed for the EFTA states, with To Lam present. Talks had stalled from 2018, relaunched in September 2025 and finished in July 2026. The pact spans goods, services, investment, intellectual property, government procurement, competition, SMEs, dispute settlement, trade remedies, technical barriers, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and sustainable development. Vietnam ministry figures put average annual bilateral trade near $2 billion; EFTA put last year’s trade at 4.8 billion euros ($5.4 billion). Norway says roughly half its exports to Vietnam become tariff-free when the deal takes effect and more than 98 percent within seven years. Vietnam’s main exports to EFTA include seafood, footwear, textiles, machinery and electronics; imports include machinery, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and production materials. As of end-2025 Switzerland had 234 investment projects in Vietnam worth over $2.4 billion. On October 17 Le Minh Hung met Guy Parmelin in Hanoi and both sides discussed early entry into force and deeper ties. Contested is the geopolitical reading. History and politics scholar Do Dinh Lam Khang told AFP that as the US increasingly exerts trade pressure on European countries, the agreement is a joint effort to turn economic integration into greater strategic autonomy and to develop alternative commercial relationships rather than relying exclusively on their largest partners. The start date for the deal is not fixed in the record; both sides said they want it in force soon.