Vietnam-EU trade rises 18% in first eight months of 2026
The EU is scheduled to remove almost all remaining tariffs on Vietnamese goods by 2027, according to Vietnam’s trade office in Belgium and the EU.
Trade between Vietnam and the European Union reached US$57.16 billion in the first eight months of 2026, an 18% increase from a year earlier, according to Department of Customs figures cited by Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade. Vietnamese exports rose 19.66% to US$44.26 billion, while imports increased 12.75% to US$12.91 billion.
The figures follow bilateral trade of US$73.81 billion in 2025, up 7.79% from 2024. Vietnam’s trade surplus with the EU stood at US$38.54 billion in 2025, compared with US$35 billion the previous year.
The ministry said six years under the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) had made Vietnam the bloc’s largest trading partner within ASEAN. The agreement took effect in August 2020. More than 70% of Vietnamese exports to the EU go to six markets: the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and Spain.
Vietnam’s trade office in Belgium and the EU said more than 90% of goods already receive tariff-free access under the agreement. It said the EU was scheduled to eliminate almost all remaining duties on Vietnamese goods by 2027.
European businesses also reported benefits from the pact. According to the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam’s second-quarter 2026 Business Confidence Index, half of surveyed European companies involved in bilateral trade said they benefited directly from EVFTA tariff preferences. Of that group, two-thirds reported measurable financial savings.
