{"id":48607,"date":"2026-01-27T07:03:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T07:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=48607"},"modified":"2026-01-27T07:03:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T07:03:05","slug":"india-and-eu-set-to-announce-landmark-trade-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2026\/01\/27\/india-and-eu-set-to-announce-landmark-trade-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"India and EU set to announce landmark trade deal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The European Union and India are set to announce a landmark trade deal after nearly two decades of on-off talks, as both sides aim to deepen ties amid tensions with the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">India&#8217;s Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal said on Monday that negotiations had been wrapped up and the deal finalised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Ant\u00f3nio Lu\u00eds Santos da Costa are in Delhi, where the announcement is expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both India and the EU are seeking to strengthen strategic and trade ties with the rest of the world as they contend with economic and geopolitical pressure from the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Delhi is grappling with 50% tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump last year amid talks aimed at securing a trade deal between India and the US that are still dragging on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The EU has just emerged from a stressful week after Trump threatened to escalate his trade war with European allies for opposing a US takeover of Greenland before&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cgezx40r7d7o\">backing off<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That larger geopolitical context was evident in recent statements made by leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The trade deal will send an &#8220;important political message to the world that India and the EU believe more in trade agreements than in tariffs&#8221; at a time when protectionism is on the rise and &#8220;some countries have decided to increase tariffs&#8221;, Costa said on Monday without naming the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Von der Leyen said that Europe and India are &#8220;committed to working together to shape a new global order&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/ckgyz1ejw9no\">India and EU set for &#8216;mother of all deals&#8217; as Trump&#8217;s tariff uncertainty looms<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Von der Leyen and Costa arrived in Delhi over the weekend and were the chief guests at India&#8217;s colourful Republic Day celebrations on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, they will meet Modi and attend a bilateral summit, after which the deal is expected to be formally announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The formal signing is likely to take place only later this year, after the agreement is approved by the European Parliament and the European Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/eff1\/live\/e41a92a0-fb44-11f0-a0e0-496c391d5d58.jpg.webp\" alt=\"Narendra Modi\/X Leaders stand in a line on a decorated stage at an outdoor ceremony. From left to right are a European woman leader in a red patterned jacket, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wearing a traditional turban and light blue vest, a European male leader in a dark suit, and Indian President Draupadi Murmu in a light-coloured coat, with floral decorations and officials visible in the background\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(From left), Von der Leyen, Modi, Costa, Indian President Droupadi Murmu and others during the Republic Day celebrations on Monday<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The deal will expand market access for Indian exports to Europe while easing entry for European investments and goods, such as cars and beverages, into Asia&#8217;s third-largest economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;This is a perfect example of a partnership between two major economies of the world&#8230; This agreement represents 25% of the global GDP and one-third of global trade,&#8221; Modi said while inaugurating the India Energy Week conference on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The EU is India&#8217;s largest trading partner in goods, with&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pib.gov.in\/PressNoteDetails.aspx?id=157070&amp;NoteId=157070&amp;ModuleId=3&amp;reg=3&amp;lang=2#:~:text=Bilateral%20trade%20volume%20reached%20approximately,increasing%20to%20%E2%82%AC29%20billion.\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bilateral merchandise trade<\/a>&nbsp;reaching $136bn (\u00a399.4bn) in 2024-25, nearly doubling over a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Talks for a deal between India and the EU started in 2007 but stalled in 2013 over roadblocks in market access and regulatory demands. Discussions were formally restarted in July 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The main sticking points were access to India&#8217;s automobile market, agriculture goods and carbon-linked tariffs &#8211; and analysts will be reading the fine print to see what the final agreement says on these issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials from both sides worked hard over the past few days to finalise outstanding chapters of the agreement, aiming to wrap it up before the EU leaders&#8217; visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The agreement &#8211; von der Leyen and India&#8217;s commerce minister Piyush Goyal have described it as the &#8220;mother of all trade deals&#8221; &#8211; comes as pressure grows on Delhi and Brussels to secure alternative markets for exporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the past seven months, India signed major trade agreements with the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c307ggj492vo\">UK<\/a>, Oman and New Zealand, and a 2024 pact signed with the four-nation European Free Trade Association bloc of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein has come into effect.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The EU, meanwhile,\u00a0signed a trade deal\u00a0with South Asian trade bloc Mercosur earlier this month after 25 years of negotiation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The European Union and India are set to announce a landmark trade deal after nearly two decades of on-off talks, as both sides aim to deepen ties amid tensions with the US. India&#8217;s Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal said on Monday that negotiations had been wrapped up and the deal finalised. European Commission President Ursula von [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":21159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[4836,147,4294,5274,7207,12756,11967,1904,9328,5520,9742,12326,12257,9198,5196,5494,159,6621,9505,6564,3182,2404,1195,12384,1237,6032,11725,12773,5440,8342,5205,10742,11289,8000,5187,9237,1379,12993,1198,3805,9230,5348,9031,12244,10329,12864,13307,12605,7231,10976,6238,6348,10044,5251,12790,36],"class_list":["post-48607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-access","tag-agriculture","tag-and-india","tag-asia","tag-asian","tag-automobile","tag-bilateral","tag-brussels","tag-carbon","tag-cars","tag-da","tag-decade","tag-delhi","tag-economies","tag-economy","tag-energy","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-commission","tag-european-council","tag-european-parliament","tag-european-union","tag-exporters","tag-gdp","tag-goods","tag-greenland","tag-increase","tag-india","tag-indian","tag-july","tag-market","tag-modi","tag-negotiations","tag-new-zealand","tag-nio","tag-norway","tag-oman","tag-parliament","tag-president","tag-santos","tag-switzerland","tag-tariff","tag-tariffs","tag-trade","tag-trade-deal","tag-trading","tag-uk","tag-union","tag-ursula","tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","tag-us","tag-von-der-leyen","tag-war","tag-weekend","tag-world"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48607"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48608,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48607\/revisions\/48608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}