Exporting to the EU: tariffs down, green rules now the gate

The EU lane is where Vietnamese cargo is still gaining ground while the US lane churns through tariff and freight swings. Two-way trade between Vietnam and the EU passed $73.8 billion in 2025, and Vietnam's exports to the bloc grew another 13.3% in the first five months of 2026. But 2026 is also the year the rules of this market change: EVFTA tariff cuts are no longer an automatic edge, and the EU's green rules, CBAM and EUDR, now decide which cargo gets in.

Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade puts two-way trade with the EU at more than $73.8 billion in 2025, up nearly 8%, with exports above $56 billion, up 8.6%. Figures cited by the VCCI's WTO Center show a trade surplus of $38.6 billion with the bloc, up 10.1%. The run has carried into this year: exports to the EU reached $25.78 billion in the first five months of 2026, up 13.3%, with a $17.87 billion surplus.

The cargo mix is broad: computers and electronic components lead, coffee is growing exceptionally fast, followed by fruit and vegetables, cashews, seafood, garments and footwear. Seafood alone brings in $1.1 to $1.3 billion a year from this market.

The first bottleneck is the preference paperwork. In 2025, only about 34.6% of eligible exports used a preferential EVFTA certificate of origin, slightly down from the year before. In other words, most Vietnamese cargo enters the EU without claiming the tariff rates the agreement negotiated.

In 2025, only about 34.6% of eligible exports used a preferential EVFTA certificate of origin, slightly down from the year before.

For a shipper, that is real money. The gap between the standard duty and the EVFTA rate is margin given away on every shipment that moves without a C/O. In our experience on EU-bound cargo, the snag is rarely the C/O application itself; it is proving origin: incomplete purchase records for raw materials, or rules of origin for the HS code never checked at the quoting stage, discovered only when the cargo is ready to ship.

CBAM, the EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism, entered its definitive phase on January 1, 2026. EU importers must now buy and surrender CBAM certificates matching the emissions embedded in the goods; the directly covered groups are iron and steel, aluminium, cement and fertilizers, along with electricity and hydrogen. On paper the cost lands on the EU buyer, but to calculate the certificates, that buyer will ask the exporter for emissions data per unit of product, and will ask at the negotiation stage.

EUDR, the EU deforestation regulation, applies from late 2026 to coffee, rubber, wood and cocoa. Cargo in these groups must identify its plot of production or harvest and prove the supply chain is deforestation-free before it can enter the EU.

Iron, steel and aluminium sit at the top of the CBAM list: exporters of these goods to the EU need a full greenhouse-gas inventory to international standards and regular reporting of the emissions tied to their shipments, because without the data the buyer cannot compute the certificates due. Coffee, wood and rubber, all growing well on the EU lane, fall under EUDR: without plot-level traceability files, even the EVFTA tariff preference will not get the shipment past the European border.

The ripple does not stop with the named sectors. Around 11 other industry groups are assessed as indirectly exposed to CBAM, including electronics, food processing, paper, plastics and apparel. The clearest signal for shippers is that questions about emissions and material origin will show up earlier and earlier in EU buyers' requirements, even for goods not yet on the mandatory list.

Start by placing your cargo against the three layers of the gate: tariff preference, CBAM and EUDR. Each layer demands a different file, and all three are best handled at the quoting stage, not when the container is already at the port.

• Check each product's HS code against the CBAM groups (iron and steel, aluminium, cement, fertilizers) and the EUDR groups (coffee, rubber, wood, cocoa) so you know what file the buyer will ask for.
• Verify the EVFTA rule of origin for your HS code at quotation and claim the preferential C/O; the duty gap is margin you give away if you skip this step.
• Build emissions data and plot-of-origin records into supplier contracts from the start, because this is data you cannot reconstruct when the buyer asks at short notice.
• Agree in the sales contract who supplies which figures for the CBAM certificates, so the cost argument does not surface after the cargo has sailed.

Homexim handles customs clearance and advises on the export document set for EU-bound cargo, including checking rules of origin by HS code and preparing the preferential EVFTA C/O before the shipment loads. Send your commodity and destination market, and the documentation desk will map which layer of the gate your cargo faces and what files to add.