EU Delegation likely to land in India as FTA discussions enter decisive stage
NEW DELHI : The European Union (EU) is set to dispatch a trade delegation to Delhi in the second week of December for a final push to substantially conclude the India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by year-end. Key outstanding issues, including the EU’s controversial carbon border tax and steel import quotas, are likely to be addressed, sources said.
The two sides are keen to make a formal announcement on the India-EU FTA at the India-EU Summit in New Delhi, possibly on January 27, to be attended by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and the EU leadership, a source tracking the matter said.
“A team from the EU is likely to be in India in December second week (around December 8) to give a final push for the India-EU FTA by sorting out the remaining few topics. We can expect something to happen. This FTA is essential for the benefit of both EU and India,” said sources closely associated with Indo-German trade and commerce.
On Tuesday, the EU and India issued a joint statement on the India-EU Foreign Policy and Security Consultations and the Sixth Strategic Partnership Review Meeting on November 18-19 where the two underlined the year-end goal for the pact, among other issues.
Pacts in focus
“The two sides reaffirmed the shared ambition to conclude negotiations on the free trade agreement by the end of this year and to accelerate negotiations on the investment protection agreement and the agreement on geographical indications,” per the statement.
While there has been considerable progress in most areas related to market access in goods and services, including the complex rules of origin, the vexed areas of EU regulatory mechanisms including the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the EU Deforestation Regulations (EUDR), are yet to be sorted out.
CBAM will lead to carbon taxes on sectors such as steel, aluminium and cement from 2026 while the EUDR regulations could affect exports of agricultural products as exporters would need to prove that their products are `deforestation-free’.
“India has been insisting that the EU agree to some mechanism that would ensure that the benefits of the FTA will not get offset by the EU regulations but the bloc is resisting it,” the first source said.
Delhi also wants some assurance of flexibility on the EU proposal to cut down on duty-free quotas in steel imports and increase tariffs on over-quota shipments, the source added.
These issues were discussed in detail during Commerce & Industry Minister Shri Piyush Goyal’s visit to Brussels on October 26-28 where he met European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic.
Later, EU DG Trade Sabine Weyand was in New Delhi on November 5-6, 2025, for high-level talks with India’s Commerce Secretary Rajesh Aggarwal on key technical and policy issues.
India’s bilateral trade in goods with the EU was $136.53 billion in 2024-25 (exports worth $75.85 billion and imports worth $60.68 billion), making it the largest trading partner for goods, per government numbers.