Laos Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in laos, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
Trade Agreements
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Laos acceded to the WTO in 2013 and continues to integrate with ASEAN neighbors through the ASEAN Economic Community. The following countries have granted Generalized System of Preference (GSP) status to Laos: Australia, Belarus, Canada, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.  The following offer LDC-specific tariff free treatment to Lao goods: Chile, China, Taiwan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Thailand. 

Laos has also signed trade agreements with all nine other members of ASEAN and is engaged in a range of negotiations as a member of ASEAN.  Laos and the United States signed a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement in 2016. Laos has also signed various bilateral agreements with Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, North Korea, Mongolia, Malaysia, Russia, India, Belarus, Argentina, Kuwait, and Turkey.

Laos is a member of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) which took effect in January 2022.

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