EU President Ursula von der Leyen will meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday, the first day of her two-day “unprecedented” visit with her team of EU Commissioners to India, amidst growing tariff threats from US President Donald Trump.
Von der Leyen’s meeting with Jaishankar is likely to set the tone of her meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday where the two are expected to discuss wide ranging issues such as the India-EU free trade agreement, economic security, the bloc’s environmental regulations, defence co-operation and supply chains.
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The visit is at a time when both India and the EU are grappling with Trump’s tariff threats which may provide further incentive to the two sides to strengthen partnership. On Wednesday, Trump issued fresh warnings to the EU threatening it with 25 per cent tariffs, including on automobiles. India has also been threatened by the US with “reciprocal tariffs” that may be announced in April.
The EU chief had earlier signalled that the “unprecedented” visit to India, one of the first by the College of Commissioners early in the new mandate, was important in the era of intense geostrategic competition
“In this era of intense geostrategic competition, Europe stands for openness, partnership and outreach. We seek to deepen ties with one of our most trusted friends and allies—India. Europe and India are like-minded partners, bound by the shared conviction that democracy best serves the people. That’s why one of the first visits of the new Commission is to India,” she said.
- Also read: Trump’s tariff threats set to charge up India’s FTA talks with UK, EU
Objective of the meeting
The second meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) will also take place during the visit with the EU being represented by Vice-President Virkkunen, High Representative/Vice-President Kaja Kallas, and Commissioners Maroš Šefčovič and Ekaterina Zaharieva.
“The objective of the EU-India TTC is to boost collaboration on the digital transition, clean and green technologies and trade and investment. Concrete topics of discussion will include collaboration on digital public infrastructure and its compatibility, as well as resilience of key value chains and cooperation on global trade issues,” as per an EU statement.
The EU is India’s largest regional trading partner, accounting for €124 billion worth of trade in goods in 2023 or 12.2 per cent of total Indian trade, topping the USA (10.8 per cent) and China (10.5 per cent),” as per EU figures. The US is India’s largest trading partner country.