Key events
Chair of the European Parliament’s international trade committee, Bernd Lange, said “the conclusion of negotiations with India offers a glimmer of hope amid a chaotic geopolitical situation.”
“The EU is not alone in its insistence on a rules-based order. This is only the beginning of close cooperation with India. We can build on this foundation in the future,” he said.
Germany has rushed to welcome the deal, saying it could support growth at a time of increasingly challenging ties with other major economies, AFP reported.
“This agreement creates new opportunities for growth and good jobs – in Europe and India alike – while deepening the strategic partnership with the world’s largest democracy,” said Lars Klingbeil, Germany’s finance minister.
If you are after a detailed “fact sheet” on the deal, the EU’s document is here.
It says the agreement will save up to €4bn per year in duties on European products and pointedly says it is the biggest trade opening India has given to any trade partner (hello UK).
Here are some specific examples from the Q&A:
“For example, tariffs on cars will gradually go down from 110% to 10% with a quota of 250,000 vehicles a year. High tariffs of up to 44% on machinery, 22% on chemicals and 11% on pharmaceuticals will be mostly eliminated.”
Morning opening: ‘The mother of all trade deals’
Jakub Krupa
The European Union has concluded trade talks with India this morning, signing also a bunch of separate deals on mobility, security, and defence, among others.
The accord would open up India’s vast and highly guarded market, with New Delhi slashing tariffs on cars to 10% over five years from as high as 110%, Reuters reported. The deal will also cut tariffs on a slew of EU goods coming to India including machinery, electrical equipment, chemicals and iron and steel, the EU said.
The EU is keen to stress that the EU and India already trade over €180bn worth of goods and services per year, supporting close to 800,000 EU jobs, and the EU’s goods exports to India is expected to double by 2032.
“This is the most ambitious trade opening that India has ever granted to a trade partner,” the bloc said, creating a market of more than 2 billion people.
India’s Narendra Modi welcomed the deal saying “the two largest democratic powers of the world are adding a decisive chapter to their relations,” as he hailed “the largest ever free trade agreement in its history.” The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, went further and called it “the mother of all trade deals.”
The agreements will still need to go through the usual ratification process, including by the member states and the European parliament.
But there is no hiding away from the fact that the deal – 19 years in the making – gets also signed now as the EU urgently looks for new trade partners to diversify its trade given increasingly shaky relations with the US under tariff-happy Donald Trump. Earlier this month, the EU signed a deal with the South American bloc Mercosur, after 25 years of negotiations.
The European Council’s president António Costa – who holds an overseas citizenship of India thanks to his Goan roots – said that the deal “sends a clear message to the world at a time when the global order is being fundamentally reshaped.”
I will bring you the main reactions to the deal.
Separately, I will be keeping an eye on the latest on Ukraine and Greenland
It’s Tuesday, 26 January 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
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