Name: India and EU announce landmark trade deal | BBC News
Uploaded: 2026-01-27T17:08:35.000Z
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Adverbs of degree

India and the European Union have agreed a landmark trade agreement after nearly two decades of on off negotiations.

The wide ranging deal will see a number of huge tariff cuts and a joint security partnership.

Participle clauses

Calling it historic, the EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the agreement would create a free trade zone of 2 billion people.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said people across the world would be discussing it.

This FTA will boost investment between India and the European Union.

It will help forge new innovation partnerships and will strengthen supply chains at a global level.

Which means that this is not just a trade agreement, it is, it is a new blueprint for shared prosperity.

We're not only making our economy stronger, we're also delivering security for our people in an increasingly insecure world.

And today, the world's two largest economies and democracies launch their first ever security and defense partnership.

This is a landmark departure and a trust based platform for cooperation on the strategic issues that matter most.

My colleague Mukherjee is in Delhi and joins us now.

It's certainly a huge market for each of these partners in this deal.

Well, this is definitely going to be a very, very crucial achievement for both countries, which is why, for both blocs rather, which is why you're seeing the kind of optics throughout this entire visit and the kind of statements, you know, phrases like mother of all deals being used by none other than ourselves on the line.

So they are definitely attaching a lot of importance to this given that it is coming in this climate of global uncertainty when it comes to, to tariffs.

The European Union having its own challenges with the US for instance with Greenland.

India having its own challenges with the US still not able to stitch that deal together because of its continued purchase of Russian oil.

So there are some sticking points, which is why a lot of analysts have said that there was a greater degree of urgency between both sides to try and get this done.

Even though this conversation started in 2007, it was stalled for a number of years and then picked up again in 2022.

But it's really picked up in the last few years, in the last few months actually to try and get this over the line.

What essentially we're now seeing is greater market access for both sides, reduced tariffs for both sides as they export and import more, you know, increase market access, as I said, to some sectors which had been heavily protected.

They're looking at the automobile sector, which essentially means that the European carmakers might have a lot more access to Indian markets.

You know, essentially, you know, in a sense giving a new dimension to the kind of domination that we've seen by Indian brands.

Of course, it's not necessarily that it's going to happen immediately, but

these are some of the steps that have been taken.

You have to understand, statistically, both sides are very crucial to each other.

The European Union has been India's largest trading bloc in that sense, so very, very important.

Both of them together make up a fifth of global trade, 25% of GDP, you know, global GDP, as well as 25% of the world's population, which is why this essentially turns out to be very, very important.

But having said that, you know, high on optics.

some analysts when we spoke to, also pointed out there are likely to be some challenges going forward as especially in the labour intensive sectors that India is looking to make gains in.

They will have to adhere to a higher standard as well.

That could also translate into more costs going in.

But again, at the moment, both sides appear to be very pleased with each other, at least for now, at least in terms of the kind of statements and body language that we've seen so far.