France, Vietnam sign Airbus deals as Macron visits Hanoi

France and Vietnam signed a deal on Monday for 20 Airbus planes, as well as defence and space pacts, as President Emmanuel Macron visited Hanoi seeking to boost France’s influence in its former colony, grappling with threats of crippling US tariffs.

- 

Macron’s first formal visit to Vietnam, the first by a French president in nearly a decade, follows US President Donald Trump's threats on Friday to impose 50 per cent duties on European Union goods from June 1, fuelling tensions with the 27-country bloc, though he later delayed that deadline to July 9.

Export-dependent Vietnam, under pressure from Washington to buy more American goods, has made pledges in trade talks to try to avert 46 per cent tariffs that could impair its growth, fanning European concerns about deals at the region's expense.

France's President Emmanuel Macron, Vietnam's President Luong Cuong, Airbus Executive Vice President International Wouter van Wersch and Vietnamese airline company Vietjet CEO Dinh Viet Phuong and chairwoman Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao were present during the signing ceremony in Hanoi.

Deals signed during Macron's visit covered the plane purchase, cooperation on nuclear energy, defence, railways, Airbus earth-observation satellites and Sanofi vaccines, a list of documents seen by Reuters showed, confirming an earlier report.

In total 14 deals were signed, which would be short of the dozens that the French presidential palace had said were in preparation before the visit, but more agreements were expected to be announced on Tuesday, an official said.