EU and India clinch trade pact amid US tariff war
The agreement will slash tariffs on most goods over the next decade
What happened
The European Union and India Tuesday announced a free trade agreement that will slash tariffs on most goods over the next decade. The agreement will cover 2 billion people and “one-third of global trade,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in New Delhi, standing alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa. Von der Leyen called it “the mother of all deals.”
Who said what
The EU and India “talked on and off for nearly 20 years about doing a trade deal,” Politico said, but it took President Donald Trump’s “tariff coercion and China’s export dominance to push them into finally achieving a breakthrough.” Their new “partnership extends beyond commerce,” The Associated Press said, as India and Europe “also agreed on a framework for deeper defense and security cooperation, and a separate pact aimed at easing mobility for skilled workers and students.”
The deal is “as much about geopolitics” as trade, sending a “message to Trump that global powers have started to look at ways to club together to protect themselves against his administration,” the BBC said. And the EU and India “are not alone in looking to hedge their bets when it comes to the U.S.” Earlier this month, the EU finalized a trade pact with the South American bloc Mercosur after 25 years of talks.
What next?
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer heads to China today “hoping to reinvigorate recently strained business ties,” following a trade-oriented visit to Beijing by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Reuters said. Carney is also planning a trip to India, where Starmer signed a trade deal with Modi in October. It will “likely take several months” before the EU-India agreement takes effect, the AP said.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Democrats pledge Noem impeachment if not firedSpeed Read Trump is publicly defending the Homeland Security secretary
-
Magazine solutions - January 30, 2026Puzzle and Quizzes Magazine solutions - January 30, 2026
-
Political cartoons for January 28Cartoons Wednesday's political cartoons include slipping in the polls, Kristi Noem in trouble, and ICE in the classroom
-
Grok in the crosshairs as EU launches deepfake porn probeIN THE SPOTLIGHT The European Union has officially begun investigating Elon Musk’s proprietary AI, as regulators zero in on Grok’s porn problem and its impact continent-wide
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
The app that checks if you are deadIn The Spotlight Viral app cashing in on number of people living alone in China
-
Maduro pleads not guilty in first US court hearingSpeed Read Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty to cocaine trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracy
-
Iran’s government rocked by protestsSpeed Read The death toll from protests sparked by the collapse of Iran’s currency has reached at least 19
-
Will the mystery of MH370 be solved?Today’s Big Question New search with underwater drones could finally locate wreckage of doomed airliner
-
Shots fired in the US-EU war over digital censorshipIN THE SPOTLIGHT The Trump administration risks opening a dangerous new front in the battle of real-world consequences for online action
-
Israel approves new West Bank settlementsSpeed Read The ‘Israeli onslaught has all but vanquished a free Palestinian existence in the West Bank’
