As India and the European Union announced a free trade agreement after nearly two decades of negotiations, the Donald Trump administration in the United States believes the deal appears to be favouring New Delhi by opening wider access to the European market. According to Trump's trade representative, Jamieson Greer predicted that India was "going to have a heyday" once the deal is implemented.
"I think India comes out on top on this. Frankly, they have more market access into Europe," Greer said while talking to Fox Business on Tuesday.
Talking about the terms of the proposed agreement, the US official said, "It sounds like they (India) have some additional immigration rights. I don't know for sure, but President von der Leyen of the EU has talked about mobility for Indian workers into Europe. So I think on net, India is going to have a heyday with this. They have low-cost labour."
Greer also appeared to take a dig at the EU and said, "It looks like the EU is doubling down on globalisation when we're trying to fix some of the problems with globalisation here in the US."
On India-US Trade Deal
Trump's trade representative also said India has more work to do to satisfy US concerns about its purchases of Russian oil and secure tariff relief.
While New Delhi has "made a lot of progress" on curbing buys of Russian crude, "it's hard for them" to completely wean off the supplies because "they like the discount that you get from Russian oil," Greer said in the interview.
"I am in frequent contact with my counterpart in India. I have a great working relationship with him, but they still have a ways to go on this point," he said.
The comments signal that a deal to lower duties on Indian goods is still a way off. US and Indian officials have been in talks for months over an agreement to lower Trump's 50 per cent tariff. The president imposed the rate last year, arguing that India's oil purchases were fueling Russia's war effort in Ukraine.
Discounted Russian crude has continued to make up a significant portion of Indian imports, a dynamic that analysts say may persist well into 2026.
India-EU Trade Deal
India and the European Union reached a free trade agreement on Tuesday that could affect as many as 2 billion people after nearly two decades of negotiations.
The accord, which the head of the EU's executive branch described as the "mother of all deals," will see free trade on almost all goods between the EU's 27 members and India, covering everything from textiles to medicines, and bringing down high import taxes for European wine and cars. It will likely take several months before the agreement takes effect.
The deal between two of the world's biggest markets comes as Washington targets both the Asian powerhouse and the EU bloc with steep import tariffs, disrupting established trade flows and pushing major economies to seek alternate partnerships.
"This agreement will bring major opportunities for the people of India and Europe," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a virtual address to an energy conference. "It represents 25 per cent of the global GDP and one-third of global trade."
India and the EU also agreed on a framework for deeper defence and security cooperation, and a separate pact aimed at easing mobility for skilled workers and students, signalling that their partnership extends beyond commerce.
The negotiations for the India-EU deal got a new impetus after US President Donald Trump's strong-arm trade tactics, including threatening his European allies with punitive tariffs over their objections to Trump's threats to take control of Greenland.
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