India eyes major concessions on EU trade deal: “The idea that one part of the world will set standards for everybody else is something which we are against,” India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told The Capitals in an interview yesterday. Translation: The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, or CBAM, is still a burden for the EU brand around the world - even among would-be allies.
Jaishankar’s visit to Brussels comes as India negotiates a free trade agreement with the EU, pitching his country of 1.4 billion people as a source of skilled labour and a more trustworthy economic partner than China.
“We are interested in a deeper, stronger relationship with the EU and I have good reason to believe that the EU reciprocates,” he told me and Euractiv Editor-in-Chief Matthew Kartnitschnig on Monday. Jaishankar will meet Ursula von der Leyen and Kaja Kallas today.
Bartering with Bharat: Trade talks stalled between 2013 and 2022, but geopolitical tensions are pushing India and the EU together. India is spooked by the closer relationship between Russia and its neighbour China, while the EU is facing huge tariffs from its closest trading partner, the US. That might suggest why India can afford to sound bullish about maintaining its high agricultural tariffs while scoring major exemptions from the Commission in a trade deal that von der Leyen touted as the largest of its kind. “Europe is becoming far more realistic,” Jaishankar said.
Part of New Delhi’s demands is special treatment when it comes to the global ambitions of the European Green Deal, notably CBAM, which is a climate levy on imported goods intended to encourage lower emissions outside the EU while maintaining the competitiveness of companies inside the bloc.
Stay in your lane, Brussels: “We have very deep reservations on CBAM, and we’ve been quite open about it,” Jaishankar said.
This might suggest it will be difficult to strike a deal, but Jaishankar said the two sides have already agreed 10 of the 20 negotiating chapters. “I think we have a good possibility of closing it out by the end of the year,” he said. And he suggested that there is a newfound flexibility and pragmatism on the EU side. It turns out that Europe – who knew? – is “not a fixed point with set demands and expectations."
But isn't it the same von der Leyen, we pointed out, who has been in charge since 2019? “People change,” Jaishankar replied.
India’s pitch: The EU’s ageing society and stagnating economy would get a boost from a deal that unlocked more visas for Indian professionals, particularly those with skills in tech and health care. Without naming China, he said that European businesses are looking for partners who can be trusted to store their data and not steal their IP.
Leaf out of my dictionary: Jaishankar claimed the world is moving toward a “multi-polar” system of competing powers – as opposed to being dominated by a few superpowers. He welcomed that EU is only waking up to this but said India has long been prepared for it - unable to depend on the Americans, Soviets, Brits, or anyone else. “What I hear today in Europe are words like strategic autonomy. These used to be words in our lexicon.”
Under threat from US tariffs, India is holding parallel trade talks with the US. Asked point blank if he trusted Donald Trump, Jaishankar said: “I take the world as I get it.” | 
