India’s free trade agreement (ALE) with the United Kingdom and the EU should obtain a firm thrust with high-level visits aligned this week in New Delhi while the pricing threats of US President Donald Trump have created an uncertainty for the country’s economic ties with Washington DC.
“The visits of the Secretary of State in the United Kingdom for Business and Trade, Jonathan Reynolds, and the president of the EU Ursula von der Leyen are likely to accelerate the negotiations in the course of the ALE, because the UE and the United Kingdom were also at the end of Trump’s pricing threats. They want more links with other partners. India is a market that has a lot of potential, “said a source following the case Businessline.
FTA PUSH
The British trade secretary is expected to restart India-UK FTA talks, which were launched under the conservative government in January 2022, with a double bilateral exchange potential at around $ 100 billion by 2030.
While the Labor Party has taken its time to examine the details of the negotiations, the wait seems to be over now.
“The United Kingdom is now very interested in pushing an ALE with India with the Prime Minister Starmer himself organizing an Indian commercial delegation in December 2024. Threats for all business partners had added to the emergency.
Although the British steel industry is directly affected if Trump imposes 25% of import prices next month, many other products are threatened due to the American threat to include VAT in the calculation of reciprocal rates.
“In the case of India, exporters of articles such as textiles, foods and drinks, agriaries and leather, which are in danger of Trump prices, can all win an Ale with the United Kingdom. India offers a large market not only for cars and scotching of the United Kingdom, but also for other items such as lively products, chocolates, processed foods, cereals and even pharmaceuticals. Thus, an ALE can be a winner-win-win, “said the first source.
Last month, while announcing his visit to India, the president of the EU noted, without naming us directly and President Trump, that the world had entered a new era of “hard geostrategic competition”. Europe would continue to seek cooperation with his longtime friends and any country with whom he shared interest, she said.
“Europe and India are partners sharing the same ideas, linked by the shared conviction that democracy is best for the people. This is why one of the first visits to the new commission is in India, “said Von Der Leyen on Friday.
Next meeting
We hope that after the meeting of the Minister of Commerce, Piyush Goyal, with the EU trade commissioner on February 28, the next series of India-UE FTA negotiations in Brussels from March 10 to 14 will obtain a sufficient boost.
“The EU is the largest trading partner in India, representing 124 billion euros in trade in goods in 2023 or 12.2% of the total Indian trade, exceeding the United States (10.8%) and China (10.5%) ”, according to EU figures.
The United States, however, is the largest business partner in India, the bilateral trade estimated at $ 129.2 billion in 2024 by the United States government.
About The Author
