Leaders of the European Union and India announced a wide-ranging trade agreement on Tuesday, which came after nearly two decades of on-and-off negotiations that became increasingly urgent in the last six months after stiff tariffs were imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Both Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, called it “the mother of all deals.”
Modi also emphasized the trade agreement is the largest and most comprehensive that India has ever signed, representing a third of all global trade.
The free trade deal cuts tariffs on nearly 97 per cent of European goods by value imported to India, and it’s expected to double EU exports to the South Asian country by 2032.
“We are creating a market of two billion people,” said von der Leyen as the deal was announced.
“This is the tale of two giants, the world’s second and fourth largest economies. Two giants who choose partnership in a true win-win fashion.”
‘The mother of all deals’: EU and India strike landmark agreement amid U.S. tariffs | CBC News