India asserts demands in EU trade talks, pushes for concessions on green deal

India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is undertaking pivotal negotiations to advance a free trade accord with the European Union, a diplomatic endeavor that underscores New Delhi's assertive posture regarding global trade standards and its burgeoning prominence as a key economic collaborator.

His visit to Brussels, which includes meetings with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU diplomatic chief Kaja Kallas, comes as geopolitical shifts are pushing both India and the EU towards closer economic ties, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

India is wary of the deepening Russia-China relationship, while the EU faces significant tariffs from its closest trading partner, the United States. This confluence of factors, as Jaishankar suggested, allows India to adopt a confident posture, even as it seeks major exemptions from the EU, particularly concerning the European Green Deal.

A central point of contention is the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), a climate levy on imported goods. "We have very deep reservations on CBAM, and we’ve been quite open about it," Jaishankar stated. Despite potential hurdles, he expressed optimism, noting that ten of the twenty negotiating chapters have already been agreed upon. "I think we have a good possibility of closing it out by the end of the year," he projected, observing a "newfound flexibility and pragmatism" on the EU side, remarking that Europe is "not a fixed point with set demands and expectations."

India is actively pitching itself as a trustworthy economic partner, implicitly contrasting itself with China, and offering a significant pool of skilled labor, particularly in tech and healthcare, to boost Europe's aging society and stagnating economy. Jaishankar described the evolving global landscape as moving towards a "multi-polar" system, a concept India has long been prepared for. "What I hear today in Europe are words like strategic autonomy. These used to be words in our lexicon," he highlighted.

By Vafa Guliyeva