EU and India clinch “mother of all deals”

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Odysseus spent 20 years away from Ithaca, which is about as long as it took the European Union and India to negotiate a watershed trade deal. But yesterday, the 27-nation bloc and the world’s most populous country finally sealed what European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen dubbed “the mother of all deals.” The big Indo-European handshake comes as India and the EU scramble to diversify their trade ties after President Trump erected export barriers to the US, their biggest trade partner. India is eager to find new takers for its wares after Trump raised its tariff rate to 50%. And the deal is expected to help the EU replace about a quarter of the export revenue it lost to higher US tariffs, according to Allianz Investment Management economist Jasmin Gröschl. Toodles tariffs Once ratified, the deal will reduce or remove duties on 90% of the goods traded between the two sides, valued at $136 billion last year: The famously protectionist India agreed to reduce tariffs on European autos from their current maximum of 110% to as low as 10% on up to 250,000 European cars yearly. It'll also slash tariffs on European specialties like wine, beer, and pasta. In exchange, the EU will allow duty-free Indian imports including clothes, chemicals, and furniture—sectors that suffered job losses due to US tariffs. Big picture: It’s part of a wider trend of US trade partners branching out, exemplified by recent trade deals between EU and four Latin American countries, and an agreement between China and Canada.