The EU and India will aim to sign a free trade agreement before the end of the year, Ursula von der Leyen has announced.
The President of the European Commission is currently in India where she has been meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Ireland is the EU’s largest exporter of services to India, worth €4.7 billion per year. Another €500 million of goods are exported from Ireland to India each year.
Ursula von der Leyen says Europe’s trade with India already generates eight million jobs, but there is potential to do much more.
The European Union is already India’s biggest trading partner.
“Over the past two decades, our trade has tripled. All this is proof that our businesses and people want to work together”, said von der Leyen.
It comes against a backdrop of President Trump threatening to undo free trade by imposing new tariffs on the EU and other parts of the world.
“The geopolitical context asks for this kind of action”, von der Leyen added, refering to the potential new trade deal with India.
The UK is also chasing a free trade agreement with India. It announced a “relaunch” of trade talks earlier this week.
The British Business and Trade Secretary said “securing a trade deal with what is soon-to-be the third biggest economy in the world is a no-brainer.”
The race is on.
But getting a deal over the line will be tough.
A previous attempt by the EU was abandoned in 2013. Talks restarted ten years later, but have so far not produced results.
“I am very well aware it will not be easy”, said von der Leyen.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the aim was to “conclude a mutually beneficial bilateral free trade agreement, an FTA, by the end of this year.”
European Commission President von der Leyen said that now was the moment to go for a deal.
“India and the European Union together are greater than the sum of our parts. Together we are a power and we are a positive signal to the world. The planets are aligned, so are the EU and India.”