Taoiseach Micheál Martin has welcomed the landmark free trade deal signed between the EU and India, which will lower tariffs on 99 per cent of goods in the one of the most protected international markets.
Mr Martin described the deal as “a major breakthrough” which would give the EU access “to a huge international market”.
“It will be a positive opportunity for Irish companies, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in the indigenous food and drink industry,” he said.
The EU and India concluded the agreement after nearly two decades of negotiations, as both sides seek to deepen economic ties and offset the impact of US tariff policies.
The deal will reduce tariffs on Irish whiskey and certain food exports. Irish Whiskey sales in India surpassed 700,000 cases in 2024, a 57.5 per cent growth year-on-year, and a 900 per cent increase since 2020, the Irish Whiskey Association said, citing figures from the International Wine and Spirits Record (IWSR).
“We have concluded the mother of all deals,” European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on X on Tuesday. “We have created a free-trade zone of two billion people, with both sides set to benefit.”
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, who announced the conclusion earlier in the day, said the agreement would strengthen India’s manufacturing and services sectors while boosting investor confidence in Asia’s third-largest economy.
The deal is expected to double EU goods exports to India by 2032 by eliminating or reducing tariffs on 96.6 per cent of EU goods exports to India, according to a European Commission press release on Tuesday.
These products range from automobiles and industrial goods to wine, chocolates and pasta. Meanwhile, the EU will eliminate or reduce tariffs on 99.5 per cent of goods imported from India over seven years, India’s ministry of commerce and industry said.
Total Irish goods exports to India were valued at just under half a billion euro in 2024 with machinery, pharmaceuticals and chemical products among the main categories, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The conclusion of negotiations after years of halting talks reflects the rapidly shifting global alignment under US President Donald Trump.
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The deal is the most ambitious trade agreement India has signed. New Delhi has agreed to allow up to 250,000 European-made vehicles to enter the country at preferential duty rates – a quota more than six times larger than in its recent deals. It will also cut tariffs on premium European wine to 20 per cent from 150 per cent in a phased manner, according to a European Commission document.
Brussels has also offered binding commitments on student mobility and post-study visas, along with concessions across 144 services sectors. India has kept dairy out of the deal.
The pact is expected to be formally signed after legal vetting, which will likely take around six months. The European Parliament will also have to ratify it.
The announcement comes days after the EU finalised the Mercosur trade deal although EU lawmakers have yet to ratify that deal.
“The EU-India trade deal announced today marks a milestone for Irish Whiskey and Irish drinks exporters: this will greatly ease trade with the biggest whiskey market in the world, and it facilitates market diversification at a pivotal time for our sector,” the director of the Irish Whiskey Association, Eoin Ó Catháin, said.
The chief executive of Chambers Ireland Ian Talbot welcomed the deal, noting it was “the best deal any trade partner has secured with India and the joint commitment to economic openness and rules-based trade is vitally important.”
Bilateral trade between the EU and India stood at $136.5 billion (€114 billion) in India’s fiscal year through March 2025, with the EU making up more than 17 per cent of India’s total exports, official data showed. Conversely, India is the EU’s ninth largest trading partner.
The EU and India are also growing closer on the defence front, unveiling a new security partnership.
The EU-India security partnership shows just how difficult these pacts can be. Negotiators ran into disagreements in the final moments over language about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ultimately, they dropped any mention from the final text.
But while the partnership remains broad-brush, it offers promise on a few fronts.
The two sides vowed to tighten defence industry co-operation, which could give the EU better access to a market that currently buys lots of arms from Russia. Officials also opened the door to more maritime security co-operation and possible joint naval exercises. – Additional reporting by Bloomberg
