After nearly two decades of on-again, off-again negotiations, the European Union and India are set to announce a landmark trade deal as both sides look to deepen ties amid tensions with the United States.

Indian Commerce Minister Rajesh Agarwal said on Monday that negotiations had ended and the deal was finalized.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Luis Santos da Costa are expected to make the announcement in Delhi.

Both India and the EU are seeking to strengthen strategic and trade ties with the rest of the world as they deal with economic and geopolitical pressure from the United States.

Negotiations between India and the United States aimed at reaching a trade deal continue to drag on, with Delhi grappling with the 50% tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump last year.

The European Union is emerging from a tense week in which Trump threatened to escalate a trade war with European allies over his opposition to the U.S. takeover of Greenland. Back.

This larger geopolitical context is evident in recent statements from leaders.

Costa said on Monday that the trade deal would send an “important political message to the world that India and the EU believe more in trade agreements than tariffs” at a time when protectionism is on the rise and “some countries have decided to raise tariffs.” But he did not name the United States.

Von der Leyen said that Europe and India are “committed to working together to shape a new global order.”

Von der Leyen and Costa arrived in Delhi over the weekend and were chief guests at India’s colorful Republic Day celebrations on Monday.

On Tuesday, they will meet Modi and attend a bilateral summit, after which the deal is expected to be formally announced.

The deal may not be formally signed until it is approved by the European Parliament and the European Council later this year.

The deal will expand market access for India’s exports to Europe while easing conditions for European investment and goods such as cars and drinks to enter Asia’s third-largest economy.

“This is a perfect example of partnership between the world’s two major economies… The agreement accounts for 25% of global GDP and one-third of global trade,” Modi said at the opening of the India Energy Week conference on Tuesday.

EU is India’s largest trading partner in goods bilateral merchandise trade It will reach $136bn (£99.4bn) in 2024-25, almost doubling in a decade.

Negotiations for a deal between India and the EU began in 2007 but stalled in 2013 due to hurdles in market access and regulatory requirements. Discussions will officially resume in July 2022.

The main sticking points are India’s auto market access, agricultural products and carbon-related tariffs – analysts will be reading the fine print to see what the final deal says about these issues.

Over the past few days, officials from both sides have worked hard to finalize unfinished chapters of the agreement in an effort to complete it before the visit of EU leaders.

The deal – described by von der Leyen and Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal as the “mother of all trade deals” – comes amid growing pressure on Delhi and Brussels to secure alternative markets for exporters.

Major trade deals signed with India in the past seven months U.K.Oman and New Zealand, the 2024 agreement signed with the four-nation European Free Trade Association group of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein has entered into force.

At the same time, the European Union Sign trade agreement Talks with South Asian trade bloc Mercosur were held earlier this month after 25 years of negotiations.

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