A trade deal with the European Union expected to be ratified this year will accelerate growth of Vietnam's export-reliant economy without help from the U.S. market, analysts say.
The European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement signed in 2017 should speed annual economic growth by half a percent to more than seven percent by 2019, according to data from the business consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates.
Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade said Tuesday the two sides had finished a legal review of the deal, the Vietnamese Communist Party news website Nhan Dan Online reported. The deal must pass the European Parliament as well as Vietnamese lawmakers.
Vietnam counts the European Union, with a market of about 500 million people, as its No. 3 trading partner after China and the United States. Their trade totaled about $50.4 billion last year.
Vietnam relies on exports of garments, auto parts and consumer electronics to stoke a GDP that already outgrows most of the world. It had hoped the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal would open tariff-free access to the United States until U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from it last year.
The EU-Vietnam deal will eliminate import tariffs on 99 percent of all goods within a decade and open Vietnam to European services such as healthcare, packaging and conference hosting.
分析人士说，越南预计今年批准的一项与欧盟的贸易协议将加速越南出口型经济的发展而不需要美国市场的帮助。
根据协力管理咨询有限公司（Dezan Shira & Associates）的数据，欧盟和越南2017年签订的自由贸易协定将在2019年之前带来0.5%的经济增长，超过7%。
越南共产党中央委员会机关报“人民报”的网站报道，越南产业贸易部星期二说，双方已经完成了对协议的法律审议。这项协定必须经过欧洲议会和越南议会的批准方能生效。
有5亿人口的欧盟是越南第三大贸易伙伴，去年的贸易额为504亿美元，排在中国和美国之后。
越南依赖服装、汽车零配件和电子消费品的出口来促进经济增长，其经济增长速度已超过世界很多国家。越南曾希望跨太平洋贸易伙伴协议将能让它以零关税进入美国市场，但是川普总统去年退出了这项贸易协定。
根据欧盟和越南的自贸协议，双方在10年期间完全取消99%贸易产品的关税，越南向欧盟开放医疗、包装和会议主办等领域的市场。