European Free Trade Association Inks Trade Deal with Vietnam

05:47 AM EDT, 10/19/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Switzerland, alongside its fellow European Free Trade Association countries Liechtenstein, Iceland and Norway, signed a free trade deal with Vietnam to bolster economic relations and promote sustainable development. The agreement's scope includes trade in goods and services, rules of origin, investment, intellectual property rights, trade remedies, and government procurement, among other areas, the EFTA said in a Sunday release. In a separate same-day statement, Vietnam said the deal aims to promote free trade and "reinforce the rules-based trading system" amid current global economic volatility. As part of the deal, tariffs on imports of industrial goods, fish and other marine products from the Southeast Asian country will be removed, while agricultural products such as cheese, coffee and chocolate exported from the EFTA countries will be free from customs duties in the Vietnamese market. The agreement also includes provisions related to small and medium-sized enterprises, technical cooperation and capacity building. Switzerland and the other EFTA member states concluded negotiations toward a comprehensive free trade agreement in July 2026, after multiple rounds of talks that commenced in 2012. Annual bilateral trade between Vietnam and the EFTA countries averages nearly $2 billion, with bilateral trade reaching 4.8 billion euros in 2025. Switzerland alone had 234 investment projects in Vietnam at 2025-end, with total registered capital of more than $2.4 billion. Vietnam's primary exports to the EFTA market include textiles, footwear, electronics, seafood and machinery, while EFTA exports mainly comprise machinery, industrial equipment, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.