India and EU gear up for major trade deal — Reuters
Photo: Narendra Modi and Ursula von der Leyen (Getty Images)
India and the European Union are close to concluding a trade agreement under which New Delhi will reduce import duties on European cars to 40%, Reuters reports.
Sources familiar with the negotiations tell the agency that the parties are going to sign a free trade agreement, dubbed the mother of all agreements.
According to the document, the Indian government plans to immediately reduce the tax on a limited number of European cars with an import price of more than €15,000. From the current 70-110%, it will fall to 40%, after which the duty will be gradually reduced to 10%.
Sources say that the reduction in duties will not affect electric vehicles for the first five years, after which similar rates will apply to them. This decision is explained by the protection of investments by local manufacturers.
Reuters notes that India and the European Union may announce the completion of negotiations on a trade agreement as early as Tuesday, January 27. After that, the parties must finalize the details and ratify the document.
US criticism of the EU
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the EU is financing a war against itself by signing a trade agreement with India.
He said that oil from Russia was being shipped to India, after which it is exported from there and sold to EU countries.
India is now gradually reducing its purchases of Russian crude oil and looking for alternative markets because it fears secondary sanctions from the US. As a result, tankers carrying Russian oil are accumulating in large numbers at sea.
