The EU and India Sign a Trade Agreement, von der Leyen: This is a Win-Win for Two Giants

Europe and India Join Forces to Counter Trump and China?

On the 27th, the "Politico" website's European edition published the above report, stating that on that day, European Commission President von der Leyen and Indian Prime Minister Modi completed negotiations on a "landmark trade agreement," which will help the EU and India "counter Trump's tariff offensive and the large influx of Chinese goods."

After the signing of the agreement, von der Leyen also boasted that this was "a collaboration between two giants," achieving a "real win-win," and was the best answer to global challenges.

At present, the full content of the agreement has not been released, but according to U.S. media reports, known terms include India will lower tariffs on EU cars and open up its market; similarly, the EU will cancel or remove tariffs on 90% of India's export goods and commit to providing 500 million euros within two years to help India reduce emissions and achieve sustainable industrial transformation.

How should this EU-India trade agreement be described...

Although von der Leyen's slogan is that the agreement will help the EU and India "reduce dependence on China and the U.S.," the products that India can currently export to the EU are mainly labor-intensive items such as textiles and jewelry, while the EU's demand focuses on high-end machinery and chemicals, requiring deep markets and supply chain resilience (such as rare earths and battery components), which is clearly not something India can provide at the moment.

Moreover, India itself heavily relies on imports of core components from China, for example, 75% of its lithium batteries need to be imported from China, and this dependency cannot be compensated by the EU in the short term.

On the other hand, the EU hopes that India can become a key pivot for its "de-risking" supply chain and replacing Chinese manufacturing, but India's manufacturing and infrastructure level can only be understood by those who know.

In short, this agreement between the EU and India can help both sides "hedge against risks" to some extent, but if it aims to "de-Sino-Americanize," it is somewhat unrealistic.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1855464137781447/

Statement: The article represents the views of the author.