Macron Sings Praise of ‘Stable and Secure Relationship’ While France and Vietnam Sign Deals Worth $10B

During an official visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to Vietnam from 26 to 27 May 2025, France and Vietnam signed a series of deals worth about USD 10 billion. In total, 14 deals were signed on Monday 26 May 2025, including civil aviation, defense equipment, railway infrastructure, pharmaceutical production, space technology, nuclear energy and others. Macron is on a tour of Southeast Asia and plan to travel to Indonesia and Singapore as well as part of France Indo-Pacific Strategy.

Vietnamese President Luong Cuong expressed a warm welcome Maron with a ceremony due to his position and rank. President Luong also more investment from France in the field of #eMobility and #AI which have a great potential and a great future. In a world marked by trade wars, Vietnam would like to see the reinforcement of the European Union – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (#FTA), in effect since August 2020. Vietnam is ready to work with the EU to remove the ‘Yellow Card’ inflicted on Vietnamese seafood and to streamline the ratification of the Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (#IPPA).

Given the nature of Vietnamese politics, it is widely recognized that To Lam, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, actually holds the real power. Thus, Macron held exchanged with To Lam as well as Tran Thanh Man, the Speaker of the National Assembly of Vietnam.

Vietnam is a former colony of France and the two countries have historical ties. Macron also underlined the key status of Vietnam in the South China Sea and the wider #IndoPacific.

Vietjet has agreed to purchase 20 Airbus A330neo widebody passenger jets. Prior to the visit, the Elysee already hinted at ‘huge deals’, but the number and amount of the deals on Monday was somewhat below the mark. Officials clarified that more are in the pipeline and will be announced soon as negotiations get finalized.

The visit to Vietnam comes amidst higher tariffs imposed by the US President Trump in an attempt to force EU and Vietnam to purchase more American goods. In that context, Vietnam signaled the possibility of procuring 250 Boeing planes to redress the trade imbalance with the US.

Taking a jab at Trump, Macron warned Vietnam against ‘the impulse of a superpower.’ He painted France as a reliable third option between the United States and China.

“The conflict between China and the US is a geopolitical fact that casts the shadow of the risk of a much larger conflict in this important region. Freedom of navigation, maritime freedom is important for South China Sea. Trump is imposing tariffs depending on which side of the side he woke up!”

French President Emmanuel Macron

French shipping company CMA CGM sealed a deal with Saigon Newport to build a container terminal in North Vietnam. The port will be a JV requiring an investment of USD 600 million and is expected to be operational by 2028.

As far as Vietnam is concerned, it has adopted a carefully orchestrated balancing act between China and the United States. As a matter of fact, many Chinese companies have delocalized to Vietnam to take advantage of lower labor costs and lower tariff to the US.

Recently, Trump put out a new policy to limit foreign students at US universities. During an interactive session at the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH), Macron stated that France is ready to welcome students from Vietnam and the region.

The visit by Macron follows that of SG To Lam in France in October, in the context of the 19th Francophonie Summit. Macron welcomes Vietnam’s participation to the UN Ocean Conference which will be hosted by France in June 2025.