Factors Affecting Vietnam's Potential to Become a Free-Trade Nation

Abstract : In the context of increasingly deep globalization, many countries pursue the free trade model as a long-term development strategy to optimize competitive advantages and enhance economic position in the international arena. Vietnam is one of the fastest integrating economies in the world with a large network of free trade agreements (FTAs) and a trade/GDP ratio among the highest in the world. However, to become a truly free trade country, Vietnam needs to meet a series of conditions that go beyond tariff reduction. By analyzing secondary data from the WTO, OECD, NCTAD, and the World Bank, the paper identifies key factors shaping this process, including institutional quality, policy transparency, logistics efficiency, digital transformation capabilities, human resource quality, and domestic enterprise competitiveness. The findings show that Vietnam has many important advantages but still faces structural barriers that, if not addressed, will hinder its goal of becoming a free-trade nation in the next decade.