The European Union must look to trade deals with countries like India to reduce dependencies, with higher US import tariffs pushing the bloc to diversity its ties, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday.
"We want to make a deal with India this year," von der Leyen said at a conference with German business leaders, adding that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had assured her of his commitment to this goal in a phone call on Wednesday.
"We are in talks with South Africa, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and others," she added.
The United States relies more heavily on imports from the European Union than commonly assumed, with the bloc surpassing China in both total value and the number of goods, according to a study from Germany's IW economic institute, reported Reuters.
That dependence has grown significantly over the past 15 years, with the number of product groups in which at least 50% of imports came from the EU rising to over 3,100 last year, from more than 2,600 in 2010, according to IW.
The findings suggest EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen could have had a stronger hand in tariff talks with Washington that led to a baseline rate of 15 per cent on most EU goods, it said.
India and the EU appear to be firmly on track to meet their year-end deadline to conclude free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations.
The talks are progressing against the backdrop of the pressure being exerted by US tariffs. Washington's approach under President Donald Trump has signaled a shift in the international order, encouraging the EU and India to cement reliable alliances and stable trade partnerships.
"We are now maximizing our efforts to finalize negotiations by the end of the year," said European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, who was on a visit to India last week.
Commerce minister Piyush Goyal was similarly optimistic: "India and the EU complement each other and offer great opportunities on both sides."
After constructive talks with Goyal, Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Christophe Hansen stressed the commitment to secure "a balanced EU-India FTA that delivers for people, farmers and businesses on both sides," highlighting agriculture's central role in the negotiations.
Negotiations on the FTA between India and the EU resumed in 2022, nearly a decade after initial attempts were suspended in 2013. In the past two years, there have been 13 rounds of talks with the 14th scheduled to take place in Brussels between October 6 to 10.