On January 27, the European Union and India concluded negotiations on a bilateral free-trade agreement, which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen referred to as the “mother of all deals.”  A press release on the benefits of the deal is here.  The deal will now need to be ratified by the EU and India to enter into force, which could take several months.

On February 2, U.S. President Trump posted on social media that he had reached a “deal” with India and would be lowering reciprocal tariffs “from 25 to 18 percent.”  The current IEEPA tariff on Indian products is 50% – a 25% “reciprocal” tariff and a 25% punitive tariff due to India’s purchasing of Russian oil.  While no formal agreement has been announced and no tariff changes have been implemented, SSA expects that the U.S. will ultimately reduce the reciprocal duty from 25% to 18% and drop the punitive 25% tariff imposed for Russian oil purchases.  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later praised the deal in his own social media post.