Public sentiment regarding the India-EU Free Trade Agreement negotiations is mixed. While there is a general optimism about strengthening economic ties with the EU and the strategic significance of the deal, there are substantial concerns regarding agriculture, trade regulations, immigration, and potential negative impacts on local industries. Many commenters advocate for quality products and fair negotiations, while others express skepticism about the government's ability to secure beneficial terms.

India

UK Government

The more I read about the absurd conditions of the deal the EU agreed upon, the more I think von der Leyen realised there was no way to reasonably negociate with Trump and biding our time was the best thing to do. 

I mean, signing 600 billions of private investments while the EU has no power to enforce it is beyond ludicrous but Trump needed a win and they gave it to him. Waiting for a more serious US administration to negociate with.

[deleted]

Any trade deal that is not honoured and likely to be torn up for more concessions or used as leverage to influence sovereign decisions is a bad deal, and a bad deal is worse than no deal.

Let them pay whatever tariffs they choose to set, (which will hurt trade), and focus on improving trade with reliable partners to try and recover the loss.

China has already shown that the usa will back down after they inflict enough damage to themselves. Since the usa is attacking everyone, if the whole world took this approach it would put a stop to this nonsense much quicker.

Diligent_Peach7574

Maybe it's my schizophrenic mind, but what if this is all a big plan? Cause right now, you're seeing alot of Asia's economic powers digging in (China, Japan, India along with smaller players). What if the whole strategy is to give them time to consolidate their economies, and then do a major economic pivot to those markets, taking the approach of "did America screw you guys over? Me too! "

mini-maxi-123

I think Indian position makes sense. 

Trying to rush a deal ends up in a bad deal. The artificial deadline introduced by Trump are stressful for some and they end up giving up too much to just get this done. 

But patience might pay off specially for a large economy like India which is growing at fastest rate amongst top players. 

Losing access to India would be very bad for US companies in long run.

international_swiss

India is better equipped to resist the orange hippo. 

At least once in a while isolationism pays off, I guess

Socmel_

This is not a trade deal. It is a bully’s strategy. Trump, with an IQ of a baby bully, knows only that. Why did EU agree with this?

Unlikely-Stage-4237

I mean looking at their current 50%+ tariffs rate they definetely successfully avoided europes 15% deal. 

So mission accoplished for India I guess, lol.

Though tbh, I dont think the EU deal will hold anyway, since the 600 billion investments are little more then unenforceable smoke and mirrors to make Trump feel like a big boy and the insane threatened further pharma tarrifs will probably be an issue.

bond0815

Brexit was a disaster for the UK. They need any and every trade deal no matter how bad it is long term

No_Surprise_7384

There is no EU-US deal. There are fine words but nothing in writing. Everyone is going to promise Trump an icecream: none will give him one. All they want is know how much the tariff on each country is. That way they know how strong their bargaining position is with respect to each other. Once that is established they can make serious trade deals with each other and ignore the USA.

leginfr

Good deal!

Remember, it is not about rebalancing global trade. It is about destroying global trade. Trump is not random, his tariffs are precision strikes!

He picks off Brasil, India and Switzerland particularly for their openness to all sides.

He picks off CEOs under the disguise of anti-wokeness, or other stances, but it is just about destroying global trade. Apple will be forced to shore manufacturing back to the West. Today, Trump attacked Intel CEO Tan, not because personal stuff or not fulfilled investments, no, because Tan is part of a global, multinational group that supplies a shitton of chips for chinese industry.

THOSE ARE PRECISION NUKES INTO THE GLOBAL TRADE ORDER TO KILL IT.

North-Protection2610

If India wants to support Russias threat to Europe shouldn’t they face consequences.

time_travel_rabbit

Good luck competing with Vietnam whilst paying 30% higher tariffs.

AcanthocephalaEast79

Now that the US imposed tariffs it’s a race to see if China or India can compensate for loss of market by dumping cheap goods on Europe instead. Tariffs are the only reason Modi and Xi met. They need each other now more than ever.

Typingdude3

We should definitely deepen our ties with India. We can also tell Modi diplomatically that it is better for the whole world that Russia ends the war. India knows this and is in talks with Moscow in this regard. 

Illustrious-Syrup509

I think Europ need to be smart now. I don't think we should ignore India. We are in a moment of the biggest geopolitical earthquake. 
I don't think following US blindly is a great idea. 

If it would be me I would talk to India and support them but put pressure on helping to end the war with Ukraine.

nimdull

India is playing everyone for itself instead of working with others for peace. So no Deal, if anything, we need a good look at what we order and bring that in-house.

Level-Associate-2896

Any partnership with Russia and China will be huge blocks with any partnership with the EU. Playing footsie with them as a result of the enemy-of-my-enemy move against the US wasn't exactly wise, IMO. That is why the EU never pivoted to China from a trade perspective, or moved on matters of Taiwan or actions in the South China sea.  The lack of strategic ambiguity means India would have partly painted themselves in this corner, or that corner - you still could have given Donnie the finger without two variants of a bad choice. And Russia... well, huge first-order level type of mistake.

steve_ample

The EU has the same problems the US has with India, it's markets are closed to them. NTB's and tariffs for thee but none for me. Outside of some handshakes and headlines, this probably will not go anywhere when it comes time to ink anything out.

chrisjinna

New Delhi [India], August 8 (ANI): Denmark's ambassador to India, Rasmus Christensen, said that the European Union and India are close to making a trade deal, which is a testament to the fact that India is not a "dead economy," as touted by US President Donald Trump.

Advertisement 

In an interview with Christensen the diplomat said that Denmark sees India as a promising place to invest.

On the contrary, it's world's fastest growing economy. And I think a testament to that fact is that the EU and India is negotiating a free trade agreement. I think that will be mutually beneficial," Christensen said.

He said that Denmark views India as a promising place to conduct business, which contradicts Trump's claims.

"So certainly from a Danish European perspective, we see India as a very promising place to invest and do business with. And that would not be the case if it was a dead economy," the Danish envoy said.

RGV_KJ

Just one of the deals EU needs to make. Trade has always been important for the EU. Creating a more resilient and diverse trading network will provide stability for EU citizens.

We are going into a new age where trade, diplomacy and geopolitics in general are more tightly coupled. The only concern I have when it comes to managing trade deals is whether the EU can effectively safeguard its citizens interest when negotiating with countries when the EU itself is not. The EU is economically very important, but less economically relevant countries can offset some of that by virtue of being a country, meaning they have more executive tools on hand. I would suspect that we could get more value out of these deals now and in the future, with an organisation that can bring a stronger presence into these negotiations.

jokikinen

Danish foreign minister is very pro trade and anti tariff. 

Trade deal with India, Africa, South America, South east asia...... He wants it all as fully committing to USA or China is not a viable long term strategy. 

He wants those trade deals even with nations that are not sharing the same views on democracy and human rights issues. 

The strategy is through trade comes influence.

Econ_Orc

Good for EU. In future US share of global economy will continue to reduce while Asia‘s share will increase. Building long term relationships always help.

US is destroying relationships one by one for short term gains. EU should do opposite. 

I am pretty sure, US will have long term issue for its services businesses in India. This is a big self goal.

If only the EU and the rest of the world, including India and China, coordinated in response to the US bullying. They could've made trade agreements to make Trump's threats meaningless.

RichRate6164

Being an Indian I know india can be pretty anal in trade negotiations. But for the sake of both the parties this deal needs to go through. Both parties need to make some compromises so that everyone can move forward

stuputtu

It looks like OP posted an AMP link. These should load faster, but AMP is controversial because of [concerns over privacy and the Open Web](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ehrq3z/why_did_i_build_amputatorbot).

Maybe check out **the canonical page** instead: **[https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/we-are-close-to-reaching-a-deal-danish-ambassador-to-india-on-eu-india-trade-negotiation/](https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/we-are-close-to-reaching-a-deal-danish-ambassador-to-india-on-eu-india-trade-negotiation/)**

*****

 ^(I'm a bot | )[^(Why &amp; About)](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ehrq3z/why_did_i_build_amputatorbot)^( | )[^(Summon: u/AmputatorBot)](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/cchly3/you_can_now_summon_amputatorbot/)

AmputatorBot

I'm from India and blog on our national security. We recently signed a trade deal with the UK, so I expect an EU agreement to be on the same lines.

The premise of a good trade deal is that both sides have a healthy political and trade relationship with each other (which the EU and India do) and want to expand that trade by removing bottlenecks. That is done by a sincere discussion, with some give and take, where both sides want to resolve any sticky points. That is how we signed a deal with the UK - though 4 UK Prime ministers and the ruling party changed during negotiations, because everyone was committed to a deal. Disagreements were voiced in private. There may be some clauses that voters on both sides may not like, but they get hidden in the fine print.

That is exactly the opposite of how the US conducted the trade negotiation with us.  
I don't think even the US side knew what Trump would tweet next. There is no US Ambassador to India and he is not inclined to appoint one. He's probably sacked the India hands at the State dept, because he thinks he can conduct diplomacy by tweets. Whatever one might think of VDL, I don't think Modi would have sat through a session of Trump's lecturing.

I hope we do have a deal with the EU soon and we both take a strong stand against the mafia type extortion of Trump  - which is what I think he has done with the EU as well as India.

Dean_46

Wow, continuing this while Modi is reaffirming India's comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia &amp; inviting Putin to India?

Does the EU really have that little leverage on India?

Still_There3603

I'd imagine that over the last week, India suddenly became very desperate and switched from trying to hardball to trying to cut a deal no matter what.

LeroyoJenkins

Is Europe really Ok with India buying and reselling Russian oil back to them? Isn't it like funding Russian war economy that is literally killing Europeans? What happened to all those strong words against Russia and sanctions, was it all just smoke and mirrors?

Few-Exchange-5550

This is all good but man please just unban aliexpress I have had to throw away so many things because I couldn't find parts for them. My childhood Gameboy body broke in 2 pieces, my Nintendo ds same thing my n3ds xl display went bad, skullscandy headphones which I bought for 10k it's hinge broke so it was unusable and now my Sony wh h900n headphones which also costed my 10k it's charging board is bad but the service center won't repair it and I can't find the part anywhere. Parts for all of this items are available on aliexpress but they won't ship to India.

that1-_guy

Okay now let the chinese investments come in now, fdi fell by 96% from 2023-24 to 2024-25, curbing chinese investments isn't going to help the economy we need all the investment we can get to develop the country having bad relation with china won't help, china has money we need money do joint ventures with chinese companies learn from them then manufacture your own there's no other way india needs to this now any more delay will be too late to develop our own manufacturing. We need good relations with china for 10-15 years, seeing the USA administration the USA won't help india get manufacturing seeing how he is hellbent on moving manufacturing to USA and destroy BRICS. IN VERY SIMPLE TERMS WE NEED CHINA RIGHT NOW IF NOT NOW THEN NEVER.

Trade is good but crony capitalism is deadly

Life_Machine_9694

&gt;That sometimes happened in creative ways. After Goyal told them he was a huge fan of Yes Minister, British negotiators brought him a handwritten note from Jonathan Lynn, one of the show’s co-creators.


The article goes in great detail about how scratching these arseholes' backs was what clinched the deal. 


TL;DR: they didn't care about the country's interests after their British masters made them feel good about themselves. You bet UK gains far more out of this than India, and Indian public gets fucked. 

charavaka

Chinese investments are worst for India. all of their phone companies just want to sell in India while samsung and apple want to export from India

settayi

Snapshot of _UK and India agree 90% of free trade agreement_ :

An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&amp;url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/apr/09/we-are-nearly-there-uk-and-india-agree-90-of-free-trade-agreement)  or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&amp;url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/apr/09/we-are-nearly-there-uk-and-india-agree-90-of-free-trade-agreement)         


*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*

AutoModerator

"A government source told the Guardian that mobility, which involves visas for Indian workers and has been one of the most contentious issues in the negotiations, had largely been resolved."

This is the big sticking point. I hope the visa's will be kept to a minimum. But we'll see.

Rat-king27

Let me guess, our "negotiators" will have been walked all over and will have caved into nearly every demand, but will have secured a single "win" such as India eliminating tariffs for cheddar cheese or something else they don't actually import from us

I’m a CS graduate next year and my god I am not looking forward to the next 10 years. What’s even the point

P1SSW1ZARD

I hope this won't mean the UK will soon be flooded and outcompeted by immigrants.

Morteca

&gt; A government source told the Guardian that mobility, which involves visas for Indian workers and has been one of the most contentious issues in the negotiations, had largely been resolved.

Fuck sake, do they want Reform or worse?

madeleineann

If the government allows a significant influx of Indian immigrants into the UK, it risks pushing the country toward the extreme far right-beyond figures like Nigel Farage, toward a more radical faction. If those in power cannot negotiate a deal without compromising on such a critical issue, they lack the competence and legitimacy to hold their positions. The UK is plagued by inept politicians and civil servants, utterly incapable and appointed on misguided or superficial grounds.

FluidLock1999

Oh oh...extra 200k visa a year from just 1 country. 

Cautious-Twist8888

Oh god not another 500k immigrants a year. We have enough Indian takeaways and deliveroo drivers.

Metori

This is what Brexit was really all about, businesses getting cheap labour from India as the Polish are richer than us now.

jib_reddit

I would rather starve and live in poverty than have a free trade agreement with India. Oh wait, I'm gonna get both.

Philluminati

&gt;A government source told the Guardian that mobility, which involves visas for Indian workers and has been one of the most contentious issues in the negotiations, had largely been resolved.

Translated: they caved in to their absurd demands like Australia did. Have a look at the mobility deal Australia has with India as a part of their trade deal and you'll see what's coming https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/out-of-kilter-indian-migrants-fuel-surge-as-labor-struggles-to-rein-in-numbers/news-story/b2495b48a8c78afcff09a6cd732ee5f6

There are already 150k Indians coming on work visas every year, the shopping/retail experience in places like London has become nightmarish over the last 4-5 years because of this. This better be an amazing deal economically or it will backfire massively

Tiberinvs

If immigration continues to increase, it'd show that the UK government doesn't care about the declining standard of living in Britain nor the housing crisis, and that we are simply expected to "accept a decision they know voters would be adamantly against".

fungussa

Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed!

Any_Perspective_577

Rachel.... Mate...  I could agree 95% of a deal before lunch.

  
I think you'll find the last 5% is what takes years to agree - and the fact that you've only set yourself at 90% is telling that you're nowhere near yet.

OwlNumber9

why are we cosying up to India?

They are Russian aligned and devalue our most valuable industries with cheap sub standard labour like coding

MazrimReddit

UK electorate agree to Reform being next government if this ends up increasing migration from India

WaterMittGas

I don't want our cities as densely populated as Mumbai, but it seems that's the way we're heading.

High-Tom-Titty

Great just want me need in the UK. Low skilled Indian immigrants in our country.

PoodleBoss

Given Labour negotiate by giving away the house...i'm not optimistic.

disordered-attic-2

On an unrelated note, we really should look at removing the vote from commonwealth citizens.

Choo_Choo_Bitches

IMO we shouldn't be that friendly with a country that happily buys up all the Russian oil to fund their war in Ukraine.

duckrollin

Look India, you’re a regional power with a modern military, nuclear weapons, a space program that has missions that had made it to mars. A high english literacy rate, aeguably a giant of tech and TATA controlling a lot of our steel and cars.

You should not be expecting more handouts from the UK, look after your citizens and welcome yourselves into the 21st century.

Iamthe0c3an2

Just in case the Tories try and spin this as “more immigrants on Labours watch” a lot of the proper work was done pre 2024. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-and-india-sign-ground-breaking-partnership-migration-deal

Izual_Rebirth

This is what referendums are for. And we need one here

MrFlaneur17

If the UK handwaves even more visas into the country, that alone will guarantee a Tory/Reform victory in 2029. It won't matter what improvements Labour make elsewhere in the economy. That's all people will care about.

Griffolion

First they came for our tradies, and I said, "Suka".

Then they came for our IT, and I said, "Kutiyā"

Then they came for me and I said, "Minimum wage already mate"

OutsideYaHouse

So no progress after 2 years and still stuck on difficult bits

JustAhobbyish

Who needs Europe when India is barely on the other side of the world?

schtickshift

Remember everyone, downplay any positive aspects of this and remember to talk down the UK and bring up Brexit as often as possible.

IgnoranceIsTheEnemy

India and the European Union are intensifying negotiations regarding a long-pending Free Trade Agreement, aiming to strengthen economic ties amidst global trade tensions.

India-EU Free Trade Agreement Negotiations

Why This Matters

Public Sentiment Summary

Highlighted Comments

Parties Involved

What the people want