11 ms·

India and EU announce landmark trade deal

207 points by Palmik 9mo ago

alephnerd 9mo ago
Reuters has the draft terms - https://www.reuters.com/world/india/details-eu-india-trade-deal-tariffs-quotas-market-access-2026-01-27/ https://www.reuters.com/world/india/details-eu-india-trade-d.... Mobility is not mentioned. You know it's a good deal for the EU and India given that China has been attempting a diplomacy blitz against the deal [0] for [1] years [2] now [3]. Indian DefenseTech and Dual Use technologies vendors can also now participate in ReArm Europe/Readiness2030 [4] (the EU's Defense Modernization fund) as part of the India-EU Defense Pact [5] that was also signed, especially after the French Government identified [6] a Chinese-led disinformation operation against French and Indian DefenseTech which the DGSE reported on with AP [7]. --- Edit: Notice how even on HN new accounts are suddenly popping up trying to make a wedge about this deal by dog whistling immigration even though mobility is not mentioned in the draft seen by Reuters and is a power that falls under individual state's sovereignity in the EU. --- Edit 2: Note the subsequent whataboutism that has arisen. A nation trying to conduct disinformation ops against another nation is an offensive action. It's the tip of the iceberg of attempts of foreign interference within France [8] --- Edit 3: Replying here > I still don't know what 'diplomacy blitz' are you talking about. The GT is the de facto voice of China's foreign policy, and has consistently viewed the EU-India deal as an attempt to isolate China. Additonally, Table Media (Germany's equivalent of Axios) noted He Lifeng's statements against the EU-India deal dueing Davos 2026, as the EU and India are investigating a compromise on CBAM for Indian exports. --- Edit 4: Unsurprisingly, the entire HN thread has been derailed by immigration. --- [0] - https://table.media/china/thema-des-tages/indien-weshalb-china-delhis-freihandel-mit-der-eu-fuerchtet https://table.media/china/thema-des-tages/indien-weshalb-chi... [1] - https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202105/1222983.shtml https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202105/1222983.shtml [2] - https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202105/1222993.shtml https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202105/1222993.shtml [3] - https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202010/1205230.shtml https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202010/1205230.shtml [4] - https://theprint.in/diplomacy/india-eu-sign-security-defence-pact-how-it-links-indian-firms-to-rearm-europe-network/2837920/ https://theprint.in/diplomacy/india-eu-sign-security-defence... [5] - https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/security-and-defence-eu-and-india-sign-security-defence-partnership_en https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/security-and-defence-eu-and-... [6] - https://www.defense.gouv.fr/desinformation/nos-analyses-froid/decryptage-desinformation-au-service-competition-industrielle https://www.defense.gouv.fr/desinformation/nos-analyses-froi... [7] - https://apnews.com/article/france-china-pakistan-india-defense-rafale-64eec86b6e89718d6a49d8fdedf565f4 https://apnews.com/article/france-china-pakistan-india-defen... [8] - https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2024/07/02/deux-espions-chinois-pries-de-quitter-la-france-apres-la-tentative-de-rapatriement-force-d-un-ressortissant_6246161_3224.html https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2024/07/02/deux-espio...
- tokai 9mo ago
  To your edit, its one newish account quoting the article and being pro immigration. Its a completely fine comment. You should calm down.
  - philipwhiuk 9mo ago
    > its one newish account quoting the article and being pro immigration The comment is so absurdly out of step that it's clearly just trying to stir the issue.
    - enragedlurker 9mo ago
      [flagged]
- RobertoG 9mo ago
  I read the three articles that you mention [0][1] and [2] and I still don't know what 'diplomacy blitz' are you talking about.
- paganel 9mo ago
  As to your point [7], no need for China to "spread doubts about the performance of French-made Rafale ", I have at this very moment this book on my desk: Le Pouvoir sans visage: Le complexe militaro-industriel [1], written by a Pierre Marion [2], former head of the SDECE/DGSE in the early '80s, where said Pierre Marion does the same thing, i.e. he heavily criticises the Rafale programme and Dassault (the company and the man himself, Serge Dassault) [1] https://www.amazon.fr/Pouvoir-sans-visage-complexe-militaro-industriel/dp/2702118453 https://www.amazon.fr/Pouvoir-sans-visage-complexe-militaro-...) [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Marion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Marion
- nindalf 9mo ago
  For people who don't know who alephnerd is, check their past comments on geopolitics. They're one of the more well informed commenters on HN.
deafpolygon 9mo ago
This will strengthen relationship and stabilize the economy a lot in the face of Trumps tariff shenanigans.
- PlatoIsADisease 9mo ago
  My favorite part of this timeline is watching (union) leftists celebrate free trade and gun ownership. The sad part is that as soon as someone wearing a blue shirt enters office, they will get right in line with whatever the blue shirt says. I saw this with Obama's drone strikes in Syria...
  - seanmcdirmid 9mo ago
    Moderates have always appreciated free trade, including Obama and Clinton, and to a lesser extent Biden. Heck, Republicans going anti-free trade is a relatively recent thing, it used to be moderates liked free trade, and so did the far right, now its just moderates liking on free trade and the far left and right not. > I saw this with Obama's drone strikes in Syria... Again, you are mistaking Obama for a far-left liberal when he was basically a moderate with no qualms on intervention. Now that we can compare Obama to a populist who claims to be but is not really a conservative either, I don't think we can claim much.
    - PlatoIsADisease 9mo ago
      I'm not talking about the politician, but rather the base of supporters who quickly supported things that would have been trashed if the other team did it.
      - seanmcdirmid 9mo ago
        You are charactituring their supporters just like you are the politicians. There is a wide swatch of opposition to Trump: moderates like me, and far lefties that I don't normally agree with on much. Most of the opposition to Trump are from moderates (most Americans are in the middle somewhere), although the most visible opposition is are the far left activist types (because...well...they specialize in visibility). They weren't protesting tariffs, they are protesting ICE, so really they are pretty ideological consistent.
dude250711 9mo ago
> Delhi and Brussels have also agreed on a mobility framework that eases restrictions for professionals to travel between India and the EU in the short term. That should hopefully help increasing the much needed immigration.
- deleted 9mo ago
  [deleted]
- alephnerd 9mo ago
  Notice how new accounts are suddenly popping up trying to make a wedge about this deal by using immigration as a wedge issue. Edit: The BBC article is wrong, as can be seen by the draft reported by Reuters [0] [0] - https://www.reuters.com/world/india/details-eu-india-trade-deal-tariffs-quotas-market-access-2026-01-27/ https://www.reuters.com/world/india/details-eu-india-trade-d...
  - skywal_l 9mo ago
    It's in the BBC's article.
  - dude250711 9mo ago
    When asked for my name, I am GitHub Copilot.
  - throwaway85825 9mo ago
    Wedge issue? EU youth unemployment is 15%.
    - DesaiAshu 9mo ago
      More entrepreneurs will help with youth unemployment
      - throwaway85825 9mo ago
        Somehow these 'entrepreneurs' only ever end up replacing employment with gig work.
sashank_1509 9mo ago
I’m surprised, so it seems like most tariffs are falling towards zero on all products except agriculture and cars below 17,000$ in the coming few years. Especially cars, India has had insane tariffs on luxury cars and motorcycles that will disappear, which is interesting. On the face this seems like a good deal for India as India can probably export much more than EU can to India except for a few sectors like Automobiles and Chips, but who knows, I assume EU officials seem to think the gains in a few high tech sectors are enough to offset the cheap goods on all other sectors.
- lostlogin 9mo ago
  > cheap goods In a cost of living crisis, maybe this is seen as a helpful import?
- ksec 9mo ago
  The cheap goods are already coming from China, so having more of it from India doesn't hurt them at all.
  - alephnerd 9mo ago
    All automotive goods in India below the $17,800 pricepoint are essentially "Made in India", not China, and in a lot of cases exported abroad under Renault, Suzuki, Toyota, Hyundai, and Mitsubishi badges or directly sold by Mahindra (especially South America and South Africa) or Tata. Chinese manufacturers got hounded out and as a result the PRC tried [0] and failed [1] to weaponize the WTO against India [0] for India trying to subsidize GreenTech driven industrialization. Chinese manufacturers are allowed to enter India, but on terms similar to what the PRC used when Western, Japanese, and Korean players began entering the Chinese market - something which German policymakers even pointed out [2]. [0] - https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-files-wto-case-against-indian-tariffs-subsidies-2025-12-19/ https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-files-wto-case-aga... [1] - https://www.reuters.com/world/china/india-stops-chinas-request-wto-dispute-panel-car-renewables-measures-says-2026-01-27/ https://www.reuters.com/world/china/india-stops-chinas-reque... [2] - https://table.media/china/thema-des-tages/indien-weshalb-china-delhis-freihandel-mit-der-eu-fuerchtet https://table.media/china/thema-des-tages/indien-weshalb-chi...
newyankee 9mo ago
This is excellent, the duopoly discussions of the world mostly center around US and China and EU feels increasingly excluded while the rest of the world appears as footnote for good or bad reasons. I do hope this means there is enough dynamism in global trade. The current challenge is that China has so much industrial overcapacity that it possibly can sell goods at near , sometimes even below mfg costs which makes it difficult if not impossible for India or other country made goods to even think of competing in the middle part of the value chain. Yet, it is the only hope for India to climb at least slightly even if they can never hope to get to the frontier of mfg. Chinese goals now are to amortize their existing mfg investments in any way possible but they still find it difficult to spur domestic consumption
- skinnymuch 9mo ago
  Europe and the EU, Japan are vassal states curently occupied by the US. China, Russia, India are largely independent states. I am sure once Europe is not occupied, it will be talked about more.
  - NoLinkToMe 8mo ago
    Russia has become a vassal state of China.
breitling 9mo ago
Canada is embarking on a trade agreement with India and collectively our greatest fear is the immigration issue. Canada's immigration is already quite lop-sided.
- mlmonkey 9mo ago
  Trade != Immigration
  - schnebbau 9mo ago
    Right but if you want a favorable trade deal then you gotta throw in some immigration sweeteners.
    - disgruntledphd2 9mo ago
      Particularly with India, that's normally one of their top requests.
      - givemeethekeys 9mo ago
        Why is it a top request from India? What does the Indian government get out of letting their kids overpay for education abroad?
        annodomini2019 9mo ago
        India gets a metric fuckload of money back in remittances every year. Debatable if that's actually worth the brain drain, but then there's also the angle of having your young people learn from the rest of the world and return with new skills. I lean more towards the remittances though.
        aurareturn 9mo ago
        Governments don’t want smart people. They want dumb people because they are easier to control.
profsummergig 9mo ago
It's insane to me that BBC now has a paywall. Way to fall-off from being the one source of news everyone in "Anglo" countries in the Third-World used to turn to (and love and respect... however biased the news may have been). Edit: am trying to access from US, I see a paywall. Good to hear from comments that other countries don't see a paywall.
- sam_lowry_ 9mo ago
  I don't see the paywall. EU-bound.
- dewey 9mo ago
  > US-based visitors to BBC.com will now have to pay $49.99 (£36) a year or $8.99 (£6.50) a month for access to most BBC News stories and features, and to stream the BBC News channel. Only the US traffic has a paywall, there's none if you visit it from somewhere else. Understandable to charge people who don't pay for it with their taxes in my opinion, especially if you delivery videos and other expensive content for free without ads.
  - landl0rd 9mo ago
    There are another two hundred-odd countries who also do not pay for it with their taxes. The BBC has apparently not seen fit to paywall them. This is a very confusing and inconsistent move.
    - dewey 9mo ago
      > BBC.com reaches 139 million visitors globally, including almost 60 million in the US, the corporation said. From: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2vgkn7w10o https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2vgkn7w10o The other countries most likely don't make up such a big chunk of visits / costs. FWIW: There's many news sources in the US (Usually regional news papers etc.) that just throw a forbidden or 402 status code right away at anyone not using a US IP.
      - 9mo ago
comrade1234 9mo ago
Switzerland has a free trade deal with India already and has a huge trade surplus (~25B). Free trade with china too and also a big trade surplus of around $20B.
- PlatoIsADisease 9mo ago
  I might be wrong, but isn't it due to them being a finance hub and/or Veblen goods? These are a bit of a legacy thing that countries can't just develop.
  - comrade1234 9mo ago
    CH to india key sectors include pharmaceutical products, electrical/electronic equipment, and organic chemicals. India to CH, gold, jewelry, equipment, textiles.
diego_moita 9mo ago
I am pleasantly surprised. I always thought of Brussels as the city where decisions go to die; that the EU discusses everything, poses for pictures and solves nothing. Then, in less than a month we have the trade deal EU-Mercosur and this one with India. Maybe the Europeans can actually solve problems, after all.
- snowpid 9mo ago
  1.) These trade deals were discussed for 20 years. 2.) Politics always needs discussion of loosy "all people that matter" 3.) EU by definition has a broad definition of "everyone matters". That's why it is lame but that is why it is interesting for countries outside of the EU becoming a member. 4.) EU does get things done. Maybe you don't read the news (where do you live?)
  - diego_moita 9mo ago
    Well, I take 1-3 as evidence for my point. It is funny that it took less time for South Americans to create the Mercosur and for the Pacific countries to create the trans-Pacific partnership than to negotiate any trade deals with the EU. > where do you live? Latin American living in Canada.
    - snowpid 9mo ago
      my first points are about slowiness which is different to "nothing done". The EU has a wide array of free trade agreements. "Latin American living in Canada." Probably thats why you dont read about EU laws. Today Commission investigate into Google for breaking the DMA. The DMA itself is a very important piece of law.
    - Symbiote 9mo ago
      You can see the news the EU reports here, in case you are interested: https://european-union.europa.eu/news-and-events/news-and-stories_en https://european-union.europa.eu/news-and-events/news-and-st... Of course that's probably not including things that aren't progressing for whatever reason. Otherwise, a lot of this isn't of much interest to someone on another continent.
augusteo 9mo ago
The mobility discussion is interesting to me as someone who navigated US immigration. Moving countries is hard. Not just paperwork hard, but restarting-your-life hard. Credit history, professional networks, understanding how things actually work versus how they officially work. If the mobility framework makes it meaningfully easier for skilled workers to move between India and Europe, that's significant. Not because of labor economics, but because talented people having more options is generally good for everyone. The H1B system in the US has created a lot of anxiety and frustration. Competition for that talent pool seems healthy.
- Espressosaurus 9mo ago
  The US is no longer in competition for that talent pool by its own deliberate actions. Might we see a European flowering as the US chokes itself into a regional power?
  - fooker 9mo ago
    Sure, if they want to pay decent salaries. But no, you can make 3-4x in the US. That’s not an exaggeration. And before someone says ‘free healthcare’, big-tech employers in the US provide pretty nice insurance for employees that caps maximum out of pocket expenses to about a week of your salary. EU (except Zurich and London) tech salaries have sort of stagnated to a point that you make about the same in Bangalore, and spend significantly more.
    - piperswe 9mo ago
      Conveniently enough, neither Zurich nor London are in the EU anyways!
      - fooker 9mo ago
        You’re right, I meant Europe. But makes me wonder if EU policies are contributing to wage stagnation. There had been several high profile cases in the US about wage stagnation, so much that tech companies are a bit wary of this topic.
nikanj 9mo ago
EU will scuttle the trade deal to protect the niche interests of French onion farmers. See Mercosur.
benterix 9mo ago
> Delhi and Brussels have also agreed on a mobility framework that eases restrictions for professionals to travel between India and the EU in the short term. This is great news for professionals wishing to move to the EU, and I hope many will use this opportunity.
- nindalf 9mo ago
  How are people mistaking what is clearly easier business visas to facilitate short term visits for migration? The EU can't commit to changes on migration because individual countries decide that.
  - izacus 9mo ago
    [flagged]
    - alephnerd 9mo ago
      You got flagged, but yes. Ironic especially as someone who has funded a US-India startup who's components helped the AFU maim orcs and who warned the Obama 2 admin against appeasing Putin/Medvedev.
      - joe_mamba 9mo ago
        Ironic that for someone thumping their chest on being a successful founder, a lot of your comments on HN seem to revolve around calling everyone who disagrees with you as Russian trolls/bots or racist. You're even repeating yourself over and over in the same thread, like for example here you wrote a wall of text TWICE, on why people should stop talking about the immigration clause of the trade deal with India because according to you they're racist if they bring it up. These takes of yours here are very patronizing, disingenuous and in bad faith meant to just accuse all critics of racism before they even open their mouth, when the arguments people bring up are genuine and in good faith.
        9mo ago
testing22321 9mo ago
This is fantastic, just another step of trade moving away from being US-centric. Everyone is just going to move on and ignore the silly tariffs.
heraldgeezer 9mo ago
More indian IT imports that get to enjoy Europe...
ksec 9mo ago
I wonder if UK will also get a deal soon.
- johneth 9mo ago
  UK-India: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India%E2%80%93United_Kingdom_Comprehensive_Economic_and_Trade_Agreement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India%E2%80%93United_Kingdom_C... UK-EU: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EU%E2%80%93UK_Trade_and_Cooperation_Agreement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EU%E2%80%93UK_Trade_and_Cooper...
Gud 9mo ago
Honestly I think this is amazing news.
alecco 9mo ago
[flagged]
- alephnerd 9mo ago
  Immigration is not part of the EU-India Trade Deal [0] nor the EU-India Defense Pact [1]. The only mention of mobility (not even immigration) is a vaguely worded MoU with no commitment of execution [2]. Instead, Europeans should be thankful that India has now reduced tariffs on European engineering and chemical goods to below what Chinese transshippers paid via the India-ASEAN FTA thus giving European manufacturers a much needed export market defended against Chinese overproduction, and that India will now join South Korea and Japan in arming Ukraine and the entire EU as part of ReArm Europe/Readiness2030 [3]. Heck, India has already begun defending Greece [4] and Cyprus [5] against Turkish aggression in the Aegean and investing in European infrastructure development [6]. The only people who would be opposed to the EU-India Trade and Defense Deals are those who want the EU to remain a perpetual junior partner to the US or China. In fact, China has a history of leveraging disinformation [7] to undermine EU-India relations. Given the pattern of accounts on this thread and how it was derailed by the boogeyman of immigration, there are hallmarks of a spamoflauge operation similar to what the EU-Mercosur deal faced. Also, individual EU states have always had the final say on immigration policy within their borders. [0] - https://www.reuters.com/world/india/details-eu-india-trade-deal-tariffs-quotas-market-access-2026-01-27/ https://www.reuters.com/world/india/details-eu-india-trade-d... [1] - https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/security-and-defence-eu-and-india-sign-security-defence-partnership_en https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/security-and-defence-eu-and-... [2] - https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_227 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_... [3] - https://theprint.in/diplomacy/india-eu-sign-security-defence-pact-how-it-links-indian-firms-to-rearm-europe-network/2837920/ https://theprint.in/diplomacy/india-eu-sign-security-defence... [4] - https://geetha.mil.gr/kyklos-synomilion-staff-talks-kai-ypografi-programmatos-stratiotikis-synergasias-pss-2026-ellados-indias/ https://geetha.mil.gr/kyklos-synomilion-staff-talks-kai-ypog... [5] - https://www.gov.cy/proedros-proedria/koini-diakiryxi-gia-tin-efarmogi-tis-periektikis-etairikis-schesis-metaxy-tis-kypriakis-dimokratias-kai-tis-dimokratias-tis-indias/ https://www.gov.cy/proedros-proedria/koini-diakiryxi-gia-tin... [6] - https://www.lagazzettamarittima.it/2025/10/30/rixi-in-india-ecco-il-piano-italia-2032-da-200-miliardi-di-investimenti/ https://www.lagazzettamarittima.it/2025/10/30/rixi-in-india-... [7] - https://www.defense.gouv.fr/desinformation/nos-analyses-froid/decryptage-desinformation-au-service-competition-industrielle https://www.defense.gouv.fr/desinformation/nos-analyses-froi...
hexbin010 9mo ago
This will have no adverse affects on wages, there is definitely skill shortages in IT and nursing in the EU, anyone mentioning immigration is a racist xenophobe, there is no comparison to the UK nor Canada, do not talk about the huge amount of outsourcing to India already happening, your personal experiences are racism, is it cold in Russia? Did I miss anything?
- whjte 9mo ago
  [flagged]
- alecco 9mo ago
  Edit: can't parse sarcasm.
  - Telaneo 9mo ago
    They're missing an /s.
pidgeon_lover 9mo ago
This sounds like a terrible deal, especially if it involves a flood of immigration from India

207 points by Palmik 9mo ago

Reuters has the draft terms - https://www.reuters.com/world/india/details-eu-india-trade-deal-tariffs-quotas-market-access-2026-01-27/ https://www.reuters.com/world/india/details-eu-india-trade-d.... Mobility is not mentioned. You know it's a good deal for the EU and India given that China has been attempting a diplomacy blitz against the deal [0] for [1] years [2] now [3]. Indian DefenseTech and Dual Use technologies vendors can also now participate in ReArm Europe/Readiness2030 [4] (the EU's Defense Modernization fund) as part of the India-EU Defense Pact [5] that was also signed, especially after the French Government identified [6] a Chinese-led disinformation operation against French and Indian DefenseTech which the DGSE reported on with AP [7]. --- Edit: Notice how even on HN new accounts are suddenly popping up trying to make a wedge about this deal by dog whistling immigration even though mobility is not mentioned in the draft seen by Reuters and is a power that falls under individual state's sovereignity in the EU. --- Edit 2: Note the subsequent whataboutism that has arisen. A nation trying to conduct disinformation ops against another nation is an offensive action. It's the tip of the iceberg of attempts of foreign interference within France [8] --- Edit 3: Replying here > I still don't know what 'diplomacy blitz' are you talking about. The GT is the de facto voice of China's foreign policy, and has consistently viewed the EU-India deal as an attempt to isolate China. Additonally, Table Media (Germany's equivalent of Axios) noted He Lifeng's statements against the EU-India deal dueing Davos 2026, as the EU and India are investigating a compromise on CBAM for Indian exports. --- Edit 4: Unsurprisingly, the entire HN thread has been derailed by immigration. --- [0] - https://table.media/china/thema-des-tages/indien-weshalb-china-delhis-freihandel-mit-der-eu-fuerchtet https://table.media/china/thema-des-tages/indien-weshalb-chi... [1] - https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202105/1222983.shtml https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202105/1222983.shtml [2] - https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202105/1222993.shtml https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202105/1222993.shtml [3] - https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202010/1205230.shtml https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202010/1205230.shtml [4] - https://theprint.in/diplomacy/india-eu-sign-security-defence-pact-how-it-links-indian-firms-to-rearm-europe-network/2837920/ https://theprint.in/diplomacy/india-eu-sign-security-defence... [5] - https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/security-and-defence-eu-and-india-sign-security-defence-partnership_en https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/security-and-defence-eu-and-... [6] - https://www.defense.gouv.fr/desinformation/nos-analyses-froid/decryptage-desinformation-au-service-competition-industrielle https://www.defense.gouv.fr/desinformation/nos-analyses-froi... [7] - https://apnews.com/article/france-china-pakistan-india-defense-rafale-64eec86b6e89718d6a49d8fdedf565f4 https://apnews.com/article/france-china-pakistan-india-defen... [8] - https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2024/07/02/deux-espions-chinois-pries-de-quitter-la-france-apres-la-tentative-de-rapatriement-force-d-un-ressortissant_6246161_3224.html https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2024/07/02/deux-espio...

tokai 9mo ago
To your edit, its one newish account quoting the article and being pro immigration. Its a completely fine comment. You should calm down.
- philipwhiuk 9mo ago
  > its one newish account quoting the article and being pro immigration The comment is so absurdly out of step that it's clearly just trying to stir the issue.
  - enragedlurker 9mo ago
    [flagged]
RobertoG 9mo ago
I read the three articles that you mention [0][1] and [2] and I still don't know what 'diplomacy blitz' are you talking about.
paganel 9mo ago
As to your point [7], no need for China to "spread doubts about the performance of French-made Rafale ", I have at this very moment this book on my desk: Le Pouvoir sans visage: Le complexe militaro-industriel [1], written by a Pierre Marion [2], former head of the SDECE/DGSE in the early '80s, where said Pierre Marion does the same thing, i.e. he heavily criticises the Rafale programme and Dassault (the company and the man himself, Serge Dassault) [1] https://www.amazon.fr/Pouvoir-sans-visage-complexe-militaro-industriel/dp/2702118453 https://www.amazon.fr/Pouvoir-sans-visage-complexe-militaro-...) [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Marion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Marion
nindalf 9mo ago
For people who don't know who alephnerd is, check their past comments on geopolitics. They're one of the more well informed commenters on HN.

deafpolygon 9mo ago

This will strengthen relationship and stabilize the economy a lot in the face of Trumps tariff shenanigans.

PlatoIsADisease 9mo ago
My favorite part of this timeline is watching (union) leftists celebrate free trade and gun ownership. The sad part is that as soon as someone wearing a blue shirt enters office, they will get right in line with whatever the blue shirt says. I saw this with Obama's drone strikes in Syria...
- seanmcdirmid 9mo ago
  Moderates have always appreciated free trade, including Obama and Clinton, and to a lesser extent Biden. Heck, Republicans going anti-free trade is a relatively recent thing, it used to be moderates liked free trade, and so did the far right, now its just moderates liking on free trade and the far left and right not. > I saw this with Obama's drone strikes in Syria... Again, you are mistaking Obama for a far-left liberal when he was basically a moderate with no qualms on intervention. Now that we can compare Obama to a populist who claims to be but is not really a conservative either, I don't think we can claim much.
  - PlatoIsADisease 9mo ago
    I'm not talking about the politician, but rather the base of supporters who quickly supported things that would have been trashed if the other team did it.
    - seanmcdirmid 9mo ago
      You are charactituring their supporters just like you are the politicians. There is a wide swatch of opposition to Trump: moderates like me, and far lefties that I don't normally agree with on much. Most of the opposition to Trump are from moderates (most Americans are in the middle somewhere), although the most visible opposition is are the far left activist types (because...well...they specialize in visibility). They weren't protesting tariffs, they are protesting ICE, so really they are pretty ideological consistent.

dude250711 9mo ago

> Delhi and Brussels have also agreed on a mobility framework that eases restrictions for professionals to travel between India and the EU in the short term. That should hopefully help increasing the much needed immigration.

deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
alephnerd 9mo ago
Notice how new accounts are suddenly popping up trying to make a wedge about this deal by using immigration as a wedge issue. Edit: The BBC article is wrong, as can be seen by the draft reported by Reuters [0] [0] - https://www.reuters.com/world/india/details-eu-india-trade-deal-tariffs-quotas-market-access-2026-01-27/ https://www.reuters.com/world/india/details-eu-india-trade-d...
- skywal_l 9mo ago
  It's in the BBC's article.
- dude250711 9mo ago
  When asked for my name, I am GitHub Copilot.
- throwaway85825 9mo ago
  Wedge issue? EU youth unemployment is 15%.
  - DesaiAshu 9mo ago
    More entrepreneurs will help with youth unemployment
    - throwaway85825 9mo ago
      Somehow these 'entrepreneurs' only ever end up replacing employment with gig work.

sashank_1509 9mo ago

I’m surprised, so it seems like most tariffs are falling towards zero on all products except agriculture and cars below 17,000$ in the coming few years. Especially cars, India has had insane tariffs on luxury cars and motorcycles that will disappear, which is interesting. On the face this seems like a good deal for India as India can probably export much more than EU can to India except for a few sectors like Automobiles and Chips, but who knows, I assume EU officials seem to think the gains in a few high tech sectors are enough to offset the cheap goods on all other sectors.

lostlogin 9mo ago
> cheap goods In a cost of living crisis, maybe this is seen as a helpful import?
ksec 9mo ago
The cheap goods are already coming from China, so having more of it from India doesn't hurt them at all.
- alephnerd 9mo ago
  All automotive goods in India below the $17,800 pricepoint are essentially "Made in India", not China, and in a lot of cases exported abroad under Renault, Suzuki, Toyota, Hyundai, and Mitsubishi badges or directly sold by Mahindra (especially South America and South Africa) or Tata. Chinese manufacturers got hounded out and as a result the PRC tried [0] and failed [1] to weaponize the WTO against India [0] for India trying to subsidize GreenTech driven industrialization. Chinese manufacturers are allowed to enter India, but on terms similar to what the PRC used when Western, Japanese, and Korean players began entering the Chinese market - something which German policymakers even pointed out [2]. [0] - https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-files-wto-case-against-indian-tariffs-subsidies-2025-12-19/ https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-files-wto-case-aga... [1] - https://www.reuters.com/world/china/india-stops-chinas-request-wto-dispute-panel-car-renewables-measures-says-2026-01-27/ https://www.reuters.com/world/china/india-stops-chinas-reque... [2] - https://table.media/china/thema-des-tages/indien-weshalb-china-delhis-freihandel-mit-der-eu-fuerchtet https://table.media/china/thema-des-tages/indien-weshalb-chi...

newyankee 9mo ago

This is excellent, the duopoly discussions of the world mostly center around US and China and EU feels increasingly excluded while the rest of the world appears as footnote for good or bad reasons. I do hope this means there is enough dynamism in global trade. The current challenge is that China has so much industrial overcapacity that it possibly can sell goods at near , sometimes even below mfg costs which makes it difficult if not impossible for India or other country made goods to even think of competing in the middle part of the value chain. Yet, it is the only hope for India to climb at least slightly even if they can never hope to get to the frontier of mfg. Chinese goals now are to amortize their existing mfg investments in any way possible but they still find it difficult to spur domestic consumption

skinnymuch 9mo ago
Europe and the EU, Japan are vassal states curently occupied by the US. China, Russia, India are largely independent states. I am sure once Europe is not occupied, it will be talked about more.
- NoLinkToMe 8mo ago
  Russia has become a vassal state of China.

breitling 9mo ago

Canada is embarking on a trade agreement with India and collectively our greatest fear is the immigration issue. Canada's immigration is already quite lop-sided.

mlmonkey 9mo ago
Trade != Immigration
- schnebbau 9mo ago
  Right but if you want a favorable trade deal then you gotta throw in some immigration sweeteners.
  - disgruntledphd2 9mo ago
    Particularly with India, that's normally one of their top requests.
    - givemeethekeys 9mo ago
      Why is it a top request from India? What does the Indian government get out of letting their kids overpay for education abroad?
      - annodomini2019 9mo ago
        India gets a metric fuckload of money back in remittances every year. Debatable if that's actually worth the brain drain, but then there's also the angle of having your young people learn from the rest of the world and return with new skills. I lean more towards the remittances though.
        aurareturn 9mo ago
        Governments don’t want smart people. They want dumb people because they are easier to control.

profsummergig 9mo ago

It's insane to me that BBC now has a paywall. Way to fall-off from being the one source of news everyone in "Anglo" countries in the Third-World used to turn to (and love and respect... however biased the news may have been). Edit: am trying to access from US, I see a paywall. Good to hear from comments that other countries don't see a paywall.

sam_lowry_ 9mo ago
I don't see the paywall. EU-bound.
dewey 9mo ago
> US-based visitors to BBC.com will now have to pay $49.99 (£36) a year or $8.99 (£6.50) a month for access to most BBC News stories and features, and to stream the BBC News channel. Only the US traffic has a paywall, there's none if you visit it from somewhere else. Understandable to charge people who don't pay for it with their taxes in my opinion, especially if you delivery videos and other expensive content for free without ads.
- landl0rd 9mo ago
  There are another two hundred-odd countries who also do not pay for it with their taxes. The BBC has apparently not seen fit to paywall them. This is a very confusing and inconsistent move.
  - dewey 9mo ago
    > BBC.com reaches 139 million visitors globally, including almost 60 million in the US, the corporation said. From: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2vgkn7w10o https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2vgkn7w10o The other countries most likely don't make up such a big chunk of visits / costs. FWIW: There's many news sources in the US (Usually regional news papers etc.) that just throw a forbidden or 402 status code right away at anyone not using a US IP.
    - 9mo ago

comrade1234 9mo ago

Switzerland has a free trade deal with India already and has a huge trade surplus (~25B). Free trade with china too and also a big trade surplus of around $20B.

PlatoIsADisease 9mo ago
I might be wrong, but isn't it due to them being a finance hub and/or Veblen goods? These are a bit of a legacy thing that countries can't just develop.
- comrade1234 9mo ago
  CH to india key sectors include pharmaceutical products, electrical/electronic equipment, and organic chemicals. India to CH, gold, jewelry, equipment, textiles.

diego_moita 9mo ago

I am pleasantly surprised. I always thought of Brussels as the city where decisions go to die; that the EU discusses everything, poses for pictures and solves nothing. Then, in less than a month we have the trade deal EU-Mercosur and this one with India. Maybe the Europeans can actually solve problems, after all.

snowpid 9mo ago
1.) These trade deals were discussed for 20 years. 2.) Politics always needs discussion of loosy "all people that matter" 3.) EU by definition has a broad definition of "everyone matters". That's why it is lame but that is why it is interesting for countries outside of the EU becoming a member. 4.) EU does get things done. Maybe you don't read the news (where do you live?)
- diego_moita 9mo ago
  Well, I take 1-3 as evidence for my point. It is funny that it took less time for South Americans to create the Mercosur and for the Pacific countries to create the trans-Pacific partnership than to negotiate any trade deals with the EU. > where do you live? Latin American living in Canada.
  - snowpid 9mo ago
    my first points are about slowiness which is different to "nothing done". The EU has a wide array of free trade agreements. "Latin American living in Canada." Probably thats why you dont read about EU laws. Today Commission investigate into Google for breaking the DMA. The DMA itself is a very important piece of law.
  - Symbiote 9mo ago
    You can see the news the EU reports here, in case you are interested: https://european-union.europa.eu/news-and-events/news-and-stories_en https://european-union.europa.eu/news-and-events/news-and-st... Of course that's probably not including things that aren't progressing for whatever reason. Otherwise, a lot of this isn't of much interest to someone on another continent.

augusteo 9mo ago

The mobility discussion is interesting to me as someone who navigated US immigration. Moving countries is hard. Not just paperwork hard, but restarting-your-life hard. Credit history, professional networks, understanding how things actually work versus how they officially work. If the mobility framework makes it meaningfully easier for skilled workers to move between India and Europe, that's significant. Not because of labor economics, but because talented people having more options is generally good for everyone. The H1B system in the US has created a lot of anxiety and frustration. Competition for that talent pool seems healthy.

Espressosaurus 9mo ago
The US is no longer in competition for that talent pool by its own deliberate actions. Might we see a European flowering as the US chokes itself into a regional power?
- fooker 9mo ago
  Sure, if they want to pay decent salaries. But no, you can make 3-4x in the US. That’s not an exaggeration. And before someone says ‘free healthcare’, big-tech employers in the US provide pretty nice insurance for employees that caps maximum out of pocket expenses to about a week of your salary. EU (except Zurich and London) tech salaries have sort of stagnated to a point that you make about the same in Bangalore, and spend significantly more.
  - piperswe 9mo ago
    Conveniently enough, neither Zurich nor London are in the EU anyways!
    - fooker 9mo ago
      You’re right, I meant Europe. But makes me wonder if EU policies are contributing to wage stagnation. There had been several high profile cases in the US about wage stagnation, so much that tech companies are a bit wary of this topic.

nikanj 9mo ago

EU will scuttle the trade deal to protect the niche interests of French onion farmers. See Mercosur.

benterix 9mo ago

> Delhi and Brussels have also agreed on a mobility framework that eases restrictions for professionals to travel between India and the EU in the short term. This is great news for professionals wishing to move to the EU, and I hope many will use this opportunity.

nindalf 9mo ago
How are people mistaking what is clearly easier business visas to facilitate short term visits for migration? The EU can't commit to changes on migration because individual countries decide that.
- izacus 9mo ago
  [flagged]
  - alephnerd 9mo ago
    You got flagged, but yes. Ironic especially as someone who has funded a US-India startup who's components helped the AFU maim orcs and who warned the Obama 2 admin against appeasing Putin/Medvedev.
    - joe_mamba 9mo ago
      Ironic that for someone thumping their chest on being a successful founder, a lot of your comments on HN seem to revolve around calling everyone who disagrees with you as Russian trolls/bots or racist. You're even repeating yourself over and over in the same thread, like for example here you wrote a wall of text TWICE, on why people should stop talking about the immigration clause of the trade deal with India because according to you they're racist if they bring it up. These takes of yours here are very patronizing, disingenuous and in bad faith meant to just accuse all critics of racism before they even open their mouth, when the arguments people bring up are genuine and in good faith.
      - 9mo ago

testing22321 9mo ago

This is fantastic, just another step of trade moving away from being US-centric. Everyone is just going to move on and ignore the silly tariffs.

heraldgeezer 9mo ago

More indian IT imports that get to enjoy Europe...

ksec 9mo ago

I wonder if UK will also get a deal soon.

johneth 9mo ago
UK-India: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India%E2%80%93United_Kingdom_Comprehensive_Economic_and_Trade_Agreement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India%E2%80%93United_Kingdom_C... UK-EU: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EU%E2%80%93UK_Trade_and_Cooperation_Agreement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EU%E2%80%93UK_Trade_and_Cooper...

Gud 9mo ago

Honestly I think this is amazing news.

alecco 9mo ago

[flagged]

alephnerd 9mo ago
Immigration is not part of the EU-India Trade Deal [0] nor the EU-India Defense Pact [1]. The only mention of mobility (not even immigration) is a vaguely worded MoU with no commitment of execution [2]. Instead, Europeans should be thankful that India has now reduced tariffs on European engineering and chemical goods to below what Chinese transshippers paid via the India-ASEAN FTA thus giving European manufacturers a much needed export market defended against Chinese overproduction, and that India will now join South Korea and Japan in arming Ukraine and the entire EU as part of ReArm Europe/Readiness2030 [3]. Heck, India has already begun defending Greece [4] and Cyprus [5] against Turkish aggression in the Aegean and investing in European infrastructure development [6]. The only people who would be opposed to the EU-India Trade and Defense Deals are those who want the EU to remain a perpetual junior partner to the US or China. In fact, China has a history of leveraging disinformation [7] to undermine EU-India relations. Given the pattern of accounts on this thread and how it was derailed by the boogeyman of immigration, there are hallmarks of a spamoflauge operation similar to what the EU-Mercosur deal faced. Also, individual EU states have always had the final say on immigration policy within their borders. [0] - https://www.reuters.com/world/india/details-eu-india-trade-deal-tariffs-quotas-market-access-2026-01-27/ https://www.reuters.com/world/india/details-eu-india-trade-d... [1] - https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/security-and-defence-eu-and-india-sign-security-defence-partnership_en https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/security-and-defence-eu-and-... [2] - https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_227 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_... [3] - https://theprint.in/diplomacy/india-eu-sign-security-defence-pact-how-it-links-indian-firms-to-rearm-europe-network/2837920/ https://theprint.in/diplomacy/india-eu-sign-security-defence... [4] - https://geetha.mil.gr/kyklos-synomilion-staff-talks-kai-ypografi-programmatos-stratiotikis-synergasias-pss-2026-ellados-indias/ https://geetha.mil.gr/kyklos-synomilion-staff-talks-kai-ypog... [5] - https://www.gov.cy/proedros-proedria/koini-diakiryxi-gia-tin-efarmogi-tis-periektikis-etairikis-schesis-metaxy-tis-kypriakis-dimokratias-kai-tis-dimokratias-tis-indias/ https://www.gov.cy/proedros-proedria/koini-diakiryxi-gia-tin... [6] - https://www.lagazzettamarittima.it/2025/10/30/rixi-in-india-ecco-il-piano-italia-2032-da-200-miliardi-di-investimenti/ https://www.lagazzettamarittima.it/2025/10/30/rixi-in-india-... [7] - https://www.defense.gouv.fr/desinformation/nos-analyses-froid/decryptage-desinformation-au-service-competition-industrielle https://www.defense.gouv.fr/desinformation/nos-analyses-froi...

hexbin010 9mo ago

This will have no adverse affects on wages, there is definitely skill shortages in IT and nursing in the EU, anyone mentioning immigration is a racist xenophobe, there is no comparison to the UK nor Canada, do not talk about the huge amount of outsourcing to India already happening, your personal experiences are racism, is it cold in Russia? Did I miss anything?

whjte 9mo ago
[flagged]
alecco 9mo ago
Edit: can't parse sarcasm.
- Telaneo 9mo ago
  They're missing an /s.

pidgeon_lover 9mo ago

This sounds like a terrible deal, especially if it involves a flood of immigration from India