Finland’s Orpo sees no obstacles to implementing EU-India trade deal

HELSINKI: No obstacles have emerged among European Union member states to implementing the EU-India trade deal, Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told Reuters on Wednesday, after meeting with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

The EU and India reached a landmark trade deal at the end of last month to slash tariffs between them on most goods and reduce reliance on the United States amid growing global trade tensions.

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The deal is expected to be implemented within a year, but the EU vetting process could be subject to some setbacks as has been the case with a separate trade deal with Mercosur, which EU lawmakers have voted to challenge in the bloc’s top court.

Orpo said that both he and Modi had welcomed the EU-India deal, and that European leaders had been “exceptionally unanimous and satisfied”.

“At last week’s informal European Council meeting, nothing arose that would suggest there are any problems with the implementation of the trade agreement,” Orpo said in a telephone interview after the meeting with Modi.