ASSESSMENTS

The Drivers and Challenges to an EU-India Trade Deal

May 23, 2023 | 20:53 GMT

Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal holds a press conference on EU-India trade relations at the European Commission’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium on June 17, 2022.

Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal holds a press conference on EU-India trade relations at the European Commission’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium on June 17, 2022.

(Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)

Shared geopolitical interests will drive the European Union and India to continue their ongoing free trade negotiations, though outstanding obstacles mean that the process will be slow and complicated. On May 16, the European Union and India held the first ministerial meeting of their Trade and Technology Council (TTC) since launching the bilateral forum over a year ago. During the inaugural summit in Brussels, EU and Indian officials discussed issues spanning digital infrastructure, green technologies, supply chain resilience, quantum computing and semiconductors. Prior to the meeting, on May 15, Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis also met to discuss the state of ongoing India-EU trade talks and agreed on further steps to accelerate negotiations. On the sidelines of the two meetings, however, bilateral tensions emerged -- highlighting the challenges that still remain to closer India-EU cooperation. On May 16, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell...

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