Trump Says US Tariffs To Be Lowered; India-EU Sign FTA

US President Donald Trump has announced a new trade deal with India featuring lower reciprocal tariffs and expanded market access. He said New Delhi should halt purchases of Russian oil and commit to buying around USD 500B worth of US energy, technology, agricultural products, coal, and other goods. In a social media post, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had a 'wonderful' conversation with Trump. India has not issued any statement on stopping Russian oil purchases or reducing all tariffs and non-tariff barriers to zero, as claimed by Trump. The US too has not released an official statement on it. Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) and India concluded negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on 30 Jan. It is the largest such deal ever concluded by either side. European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen said, 'The EU and India make history, deepening the partnership between the world's biggest democracies. We have created a free trade zone of 2B people, with both sides set to gain economically.' The EU and India already trade over EUR 180B worth of goods and services per year, supporting close to 800K EU jobs. This deal is expected to double EU goods exports to India by 2032 by eliminating or reducing tariffs. Overall, the tariff reductions will save Europe around EUR 4B per year in duties. Responding to the deal, Panjab Leader of Opposition Pratap Singh Bajwa said, 'The full potential of this agreement would be unlocked when manufacturing and agriculture-driven states such as Panjab are meaningfully integrated into its implementation and follow-up mechanisms.’ Highlighting Panjab's strategic location and established industrial ecosystem, Bajwa noted that export-oriented clusters were naturally positioned to respond to European demand in sectors including garments, sports goods, engineering, dairy processing, agri-machinery, and agribusiness. The farmers’ union alliance Samyukt Kisan Morcha called the India–EU FTA an ‘economic colonisation blueprint that will lead to systematic corporate capture of the vast Indian market’. Concurrently, the annual Indian Economic Survey, tabled in Parliament on 29 Jan, shows the agriculture sector grew at 4.6% in 2025-26. However, this growth was driven majorly by livestock and fisheries, rather than crops (earlier coverage).