HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam and the European Union on Thursday upgraded ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, Vietnam’s highest diplomatic level, as both recalibrate trade during disruptions to global finance driven by U.S. tariff pressure.
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.
“At a moment when the international rules-based order is under threat from multiple sides, we need to stand side by side as reliable and predictable partners,” Costa said, adding that the partnership is about “developing spheres of shared prosperity.”
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.
Vietnam’s President Luong Cuong called the move a “historic milestone.”
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 U.S. 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 U.S., 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.
European Council President Antonio Costa, left, and Vietnamese President Luong Cuong shake hands in Hanoi, Vietnam, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (Bui Lam Khanh/VNA via AP)
European Council President Antonio Costa, left, and Vietnamese President Luong Cuong hug after a press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (Bui Lam Khanh/VNA via AP)
European Council President Antonio Costa, left, and Vietnamese President Luong Cuong hug after a press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (Bui Lam Khanh/VNA via AP)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung agreed Friday to work together to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and ease global economic uncertainties caused by the war in the Middle East.
Their summit in Seoul came as U.S. President Donald Trump slammed allies for not supporting the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran. Macron was making his first visit to South Korea since taking office in 2017, as part of an Asian tour that already has taken him to Japan.
Macron told Lee at the start of the meeting that the two countries can play a role in helping to stabilize the situation in the Middle East, including Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, which has unleashed shock on global energy markets.
At a joint televised briefing afterward, Macron underscored the need for France and South Korea to cooperate to help reopen the strait and deescalate Middle East animosities, while Lee said the two affirmed “their resolves to cooperate to secure the safe shipping route in the Strait of Hormuz.”
The two leaders did not take questions and did not elaborate on how they would help reopen the strait — the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil usually passes.
“We need to clearly define, at the international level, the conditions for a process to ease the crisis and conflict in the Middle East,” Macron said. “We need to ensure that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened.”
Lee said he and Macron agreed to expand cooperation in technology, energy and other areas. South Korean and French officials also signed agreements to cooperate on nuclear fuel supply chains, jointly invest in an offshore wind project in southern South Korea and to collaborate on critical minerals. South Korea has moved to increase output at its nuclear reactors to mitigate the energy crunch and Lee has also called for a faster transition to renewable energy, saying the war has exposed the country’s heavy reliance on fossil fuel imports.
Macron’s Asia trip comes as Trump has ramped up his frustration with allies. In a speech Wednesday, Trump said Americans “don’t need” the strait but the countries who do “must grab it and cherish it.”
In an earlier Easter event at the White House, Trump called for his allies in Asia and China to get involved in reopening the waterway.
“Let South Korea, you know, we only have 45,000 soldiers in harm’s way over there, right next to a nuclear force — let South Korea do it,” Trump said. “Let Japan do it. They get 90% of their oil from the strait. Let China do it.”
The United States stations about 28,000 troops in South Korea, not the 45,000 stated by Trump. The U.S. troops’ deployment in South Korea is meant to deter potential aggressions from North Korea.
Macron has said reopening the Strait of Hormuz through a military operation is unrealistic.
South Korean officials have said they are in contact with Washington on the issue and that Seoul isn’t considering paying Iran transit fees to secure fuel shipments through the strait.
French President Emmanuel Macron, front left, his wife Brigitte Macron, back center, and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, front right, and his wife Kim Hea Kyung, right, attend the welcome ceremony at the presidential Blue House in Seoul Friday, April 3, 2026. (Jung Yeon-je /Pool Photo via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron, center, his wife Brigitte Macron, left, and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, right, and his wife Kim Hea Kyung, second left, attend the welcome ceremony at the presidential Blue House in Seoul Friday, April 3, 2026. (Jung Yeon-je /Pool Photo via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron, second left, talks with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, second right, during their meeting at the Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 3, 2026. (Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photo via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung during their meeting at the Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 3, 2026. (Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photo via AP)
