(Commonwealth_India) Just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European Union leaders spoke about wrapping up the long-pending India-EU free trade agreement, Brussels is sending in two of its most senior negotiators to Delhi this week to push the talks forward. European Commissioner for Trade Maros Sefcovic and Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen—both cabinet-level figures—will lead a 30-member team of negotiators to meet their Indian counterparts, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. This is their first visit since February, when the College of Commissioners traveled to India. It signals a renewed urgency to get the deal done.
The timing is significant. The EU has just signed a deal with the US and even offered concessions on its controversial Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, or CBAM. This shift presents an opportunity for India, which has long argued that the EU’s strict climate-related levy amounts to a trade barrier, to advocate for similar flexibility. Until now, Brussels has been rigid on CBAM, describing it not as a trade tool but as part of its climate agenda. Herve Delphin, the EU’s ambassador to India, made that point earlier this year, stressing that CBAM was about compliance with Europe’s decarbonization goals. However, Indian officials quickly point out that Delhi will expect no less if the US manages to secure concessions.
The implications are significant. With the implementation of CBAM in January 2026, Indian exporters, particularly small and medium enterprises, are already experiencing significant challenges. Pankaj Chadha of the Engineering Export Promotion Council said compliance could cost a small exporter about ₹15 lakh a year, a heavy burden for firms already facing challenges in the US market. Unlike Washington’s tariffs on steel and aluminum, which are harsh but straightforward, European trade rules are often complex and layered. That has already had an impact: India’s steel and aluminum exports to the EU fell more than 24 percent in the past year, dropping from $7.71 billion to $5.82 billion.
Despite these hurdles, both sides see momentum building. When Modi spoke with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa earlier this month, they discussed the “early conclusion” of the FTA. Out of 27 chapters under negotiation, India and the EU have already closed 11, covering areas such as intellectual property, customs and trade facilitation, regulatory practices, SMEs, competition, subsidies, digital trade, and dispute resolution. The chapter on capital movements is expected to be wrapped up next, while substantial progress has been made on digital trade—a crucial area for India’s services sector, which could gain significantly from deeper integration with the EU’s massive market.
However, certain chapters continue to be controversial. Agriculture is among the toughest, particularly when it comes to sanitary and phytosanitary standards, alongside thorny issues like whisky, cars, and broader auto-sector trade. Given that agriculture has consistently been a major point of contention in India-EU talks, Commissioner Hansen’s presence in Delhi this week is crucial. Both sides have agreed to exclude dairy, sugar, and rice from the agriculture negotiations—areas India is unwilling to open up—but progress on other farm goods and standards is expected to be slow and politically sensitive.
For Delhi, speed is now the priority. Officials are aiming to close the deal by the end of the year, just in time for the India-EU leaders’ summit early next year. The larger geopolitical context adds urgency: the Trump administration’s tariffs on close US partners, including both India and the EU, are pushing New Delhi and Brussels to find common ground quickly. A full-scale FTA with the EU would be a major counterbalance to the uncertainty of trade ties with the US.
Beyond India, the EU is also negotiating agreements with Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and the UAE. But India remains its biggest prize in Asia. The EU is one of India’s largest trading partners, accounting for €124 billion worth of trade in goods in 2023—12.2 percent of India’s total trade. In return, India made up 2.2 percent of the EU’s trade. Services trade between the two has also grown rapidly, almost doubling from €30.4 billion in 2020 to €59.7 billion in 2023.
For both sides, the benefits of closing the deal are clear: for Europe, access to a fast-growing market with a vast workforce and booming digital economy; for India, deeper integration with one of the world’s wealthiest blocs at a moment when global trade dynamics are shifting. The question now is whether negotiators can navigate the toughest sticking points fast enough to turn political intent into a signed deal.
