EU and India Conclude Landmark Free Trade Agreement After Decade-Long Negotiations

The EU-India Free Trade Agreement, negotiated over roughly two decades and formally concluded at the EU-India Summit in New Delhi in January, will connect nearly two billion people once it enters into force, most likely in early 2027, covering goods, services, digital trade, investments and supply-chain diversification Peterson Institute for International Economics" data-url="https://www.piie.com/events/2026/eu-india-free-trade-agreement-mother-all-deals" data-rt="primary" data-mbfc="high" data-otype="think_tank">1. Speaking at a Peterson Institute for International Economics event on Wednesday, EU chief negotiator Christophe Kiener rejected the suggestion that recent US trade turbulence accelerated the talks, saying "we did not conclude this agreement because of a tweet" and citing a shared strategic and economic interest instead 23. India's chief negotiator Darpan Jain said the timeline predates the current US administration, noting that a January 2025 commitment by both sides to finish talks by year-end came before US trade policy changes began 23. Kiener said talks originally stalled in 2013 over mismatched negotiating agendas and restarted from scratch in 2022; the deal still requires legal review and ratification, with EU officials hoping for signature this year and India's process requiring Cabinet and presidential approval 23. Kiener called the pact "the jewel on the crown" of EU-India relations, attributing its timing to WTO stagnation, COVID-19 supply-chain lessons and Russia's invasion of Ukraine rather than US pressure, and noted the agreement's scope extends beyond trade into security, defense, mobility and technology cooperation as part of a broader push in which India has concluded nine trade agreements over the past five years 23.