{"id":3749,"date":"2026-01-28T08:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T07:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogg.lnu.se\/china-research\/?p=3749"},"modified":"2026-01-28T09:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T08:30:10","slug":"india-and-the-eu-agree-on-free-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogg.lnu.se\/china-research\/?p=3749","title":{"rendered":"India and the EU agree on Free Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
After 18 years of negotiations, India and the EU finally managed to conclude a deal on an important Free Trade Agreement (FTA), probably accelerated by President Trump\u2019s irrational tariffs which had hit both India and the EU. More than 20 percent of global GDP is covered by this FTA and almost two billion people live in this gigantic area. India has the largest population in the world with very good growth rates in recent years. Since the EU so far failed to implement its trade deal with Mercosur, the FTA with India has also significant psychological importance for the future of the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Declining tariffs or down to zero in the forthcoming decade<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obviously, European industry will benefit a lot from the gradually declining or disappearing tariffs, for as much as 96 percent of all European industrial products during the forthcoming decade. Good new business opportunities will mainly show up for European cars, aircrafts, machinery, etc. Indian exports will particularly be favored in industries like IT services, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, textiles, and jewels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More recently, bilateral trade between the EU and India counted for about 180 billion euro. Agriculture is not included in the FTA which should make the still necessary European political approvement easier than it had been the case in the Mercosur process. Furthermore, another major advantage of the FTA is the strengthening of supply chains and the reduction of geopolitical vulnerability, indeed for both sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n