Overview
- Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic held ministerial meetings in New Delhi on December 8–9 and agreed to intensify efforts for an early conclusion of the FTA.
- Technical discussions ran in Delhi from December 3–9 across chapters including market access for goods, rules of origin, services and technical barriers to trade, with both sides citing steady progress.
- Key differences in the India–EU talks remain on steel, the EU’s carbon tax regime, automobiles and non-tariff barriers, according to officials and negotiating briefs.
- Deputy USTR Rick Switzer arrived with a high-level team for face-to-face talks on December 10–11, with meetings set between Switzer and Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal and between US negotiator Brendan Lynch and India’s Darpan Jain.
- The India–US agenda centers on addressing US tariff measures that doubled duties on many Indian goods to 50 percent in August, while India pursues parallel deals with several partners, including reported late-stage tracks with Oman and New Zealand.