In a recent briefing by Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokesperson said the European Union once called itself a garden and other countries a jungle is now begging India to back its anti-Russia agenda.
🔴 #LIVE: Briefing by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on topical foreign policy issues https://t.co/BGxCJaVUnE
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) February 27, 2025
This sudden change came after the USA started to withdraw its support of the European Union’s anti-Russia agenda. Recently, US President Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on the European Union after which the President of the European Union Commission Ursula von der Leyen visited India along with her team to wrap up the EU-India free pact this year.
🇪🇺🤝🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/tvjomBLvlh
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 28, 2025
After an 8-year halt, the talks of a free trade pact started again back in 2021 and picked up the pace after Donald Trump became the President of the USA and started imposing tariffs on other countries.
Speaking at an event in New Delhi, she said troubled times offered great opportunities for India and European Union partnership.
EU wants India to lower tariffs of more than 100% on imported cars, wine, and whiskey, while India wants greater access to its cheap drugs and chemicals.
India recently opposed the European Union’s 20-25% fixed tariffs on high-carbon goods including steel, cement, and aluminium which they imposed last month.
It would not be easy to wrap up the EU-India free trade pact because India will have to cut huge tariffs on automobiles and other major sectors and EU will also try to convince India support its anti-Russia agenda.