Is free trade good or bad

Participation in free trade agreements (FTA) is an inevitable trend in Vietnam's international economic integration process. These agreements contain many new regulations and commitments that will provide Vietnam with many opportunities for economic and trade development, but also pose many challenges to overcome. This essay is to elaborate on both opportunities and challenges of free trade.
On the one hand, there are a good many advantages for economic development and law system reform since Vietnam opened trade and engaged in Free Trade Agreements.
First of all, signing Free Trade Agreements with many countries over the world brings a great chance for export growth, increasing trade surplus. One of the basic requirements of FTAs ​​is to reduce tariffs on most tariff lines to 0% and many non-tariff measures also need to be abolished. This is a good opportunity for Vietnamese businesses to promote export growth in markets where Vietnam has signed FTAs, thereby contributing to an increase in trade surplus. According to the Vietnam Export-Import Report 2018 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam has had trade surplus within three consecutive years, of which 2018 recorded a trade surplus (6.8 billion USD). Much higher than in 2017 ($ 2.11 billion) and in 2016 (US $ 1.78 billion). Secondly, engaging in free trade agreements make Vietnam be more attractive to foreign direct investment which contributes to the continued shift away from exporting low-tech manufacturing products and primary goods to more complex high-tech goods like electronics, machinery, vehicles, and medical devices. In fact, there are many technology manufacturers of international enterprises, such as Intel, Samsung, Toyota,... are located in Vietnam. In general, free trade plays a key role in increasing the GDP of Vietnam. According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment, the CPTPP could raise Vietnam’s GDP by 1.3 percentage points and exports by 4.0 percentage points by 2035, while the EU considers that the EVFTA could lift Vietnam’s GDP by 15 percent.
However, while the FTAs will likely be beneficial to Vietnam’s overall economy, there are still downsides. Such agreements are likely to trigger aggressive competition from foreign rivals on local businesses – particularly in the agriculture sector including meat and dairy products from the EU, Australia, and Canada. If local firms do not adapt, make use of new markets,and potential partnerships with foreign firms – they could find competing in the market challenges. In addition, the Vietnamese government would also need to continue on its path of reforms – strengthening the banking sector, removing corruption, improving trade facilitation, and especially, refining legal and tax structures. In fact, MNCs may make use of transfer pricing and other tax avoidance measures to reduce the profits on which they pay tax to the government in the host country. For example, the Vietnamese Government has lost the sum tax of around 821.4 billion VND from Cococola for 10 years.
In conclusion, it is undeniable that free trade has pros and cons.