{"id":2321,"date":"2026-01-29T19:10:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T13:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/undercovereditor.com\/?p=2321"},"modified":"2026-01-29T19:18:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T13:48:03","slug":"piyush-goyal-hits-back-at-congress-over-india-eu-fta-criticism-calls-deal-a-historic-economic-breakthrough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/undercovereditor.com\/hi\/piyush-goyal-hits-back-at-congress-over-india-eu-fta-criticism-calls-deal-a-historic-economic-breakthrough\/","title":{"rendered":"Piyush Goyal hits back at Congress over India-EU FTA criticism, calls deal a \u201chistoric economic breakthrough\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Piyush Goyal hits back at Congress over India-EU FTA criticism, calls deal a \u201chistoric economic breakthrough\u201d<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Mumbai | Undercover Editor News Channel, January 29, 2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

New Delhi:<\/strong> Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday launched a sharp counterattack against the Congress after senior leader Jairam Ramesh described the India\u2013European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as \u201chugely hyped.\u201d Defending the pact, Goyal said the criticism reflected political frustration rather than economic reasoning, calling the agreement a \u201clandmark, win-win deal\u201d for India.<\/p>\n\n

Reacting to Ramesh\u2019s social media post raising concerns over trade deficits, automobiles, intellectual property rights, refined fuel exports, and the European Union\u2019s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), Goyal questioned the Congress party\u2019s credibility on trade negotiations.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cIs this a case of sour grapes?\u201d the minister asked, remarking that those who failed to act while in power were now attempting to undermine a deal of historic scale. He said India paid a \u201cheavy economic price\u201d when FTA talks were stalled between 2013 and 2022, costing the country jobs, exports, and growth opportunities.<\/p>\n\n

Rejecting the charge that the agreement was over-sold, Goyal highlighted the size and significance of the pact, describing it as one of the world\u2019s largest trade agreements. He pointed to the combined GDP of nearly USD 25 trillion, annual trade of USD 11 trillion, and access to a common market of almost two billion people.<\/p>\n\n

The minister emphasised that tariff elimination on USD 33 billion worth of India\u2019s labour-intensive exports from the very first day would deliver immediate benefits to Indian workers, exporters, and small businesses.<\/p>\n\n

Responding to Congress\u2019s warning that the FTA could widen India\u2019s trade deficit due to tariff reductions on over 96 per cent of EU exports, Goyal said the agreement was carefully negotiated to protect domestic interests while expanding India\u2019s global footprint.<\/p>\n\n

On CBAM, which the Congress said could hurt India\u2019s aluminium and steel exports, Goyal said the government had proactively engaged with the EU to identify solutions through dialogue and cooperation. He stressed that India had not adopted a rigid stance and remained confident of safeguarding national interests.<\/p>\n\n

Addressing concerns over regulatory standards, Goyal clarified that health and safety norms remained intact under the agreement and were structured to prevent unjustified trade barriers. On intellectual property rights, he said provisions were aligned with the WTO\u2019s TRIPS framework, preserving public health safeguards, technology transfer rights, and recognition of India\u2019s traditional knowledge systems.<\/p>\n\n

The minister also dismissed fears regarding services and automobile imports. He said services commitments stayed within India\u2019s existing domestic framework, while automobile liberalisation was quota-based, limited to premium segments, and phased. Electric vehicle imports, he added, would see a five-year lag, giving Indian manufacturers time to strengthen their capabilities.<\/p>\n\n

Goyal said the policy would encourage European manufacturers to shift from imports to local production, boosting the Make in India initiative and creating jobs.<\/p>\n\n

On refined fuel exports \u2014 India\u2019s largest export category to the EU \u2014 the minister said trade flows were influenced by global factors and that the FTA represented a long-term strategic partnership built on trust and mutual respect.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI hope the opposition sheds this pessimistic outlook,\u201d Goyal said, adding that the government\u2019s priority was to expand opportunities for Indian youth, businesses, and workers, not to act as a roadblock to economic growth.<\/p>\n\n

India and the European Union began negotiations for the FTA in 2007. After 16 rounds, talks were suspended in 2013 due to unresolved issues and resumed in June 2022. The agreement was finalised and announced this week, nearly 18 years after negotiations first began.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Piyush Goyal hits back at Congress over India-EU FTA criticism, calls deal a \u201chistoric economic breakthrough\u201d Mumbai | Undercover Editor News Channel, January 29, 2026 New Delhi: Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday launched a sharp counterattack against the Congress after senior leader Jairam Ramesh described the India\u2013European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as \u201chugely hyped.\u201d Defending the pact, Goyal said the criticism reflected political frustration rather than economic reasoning, calling the agreement a \u201clandmark, win-win deal\u201d for India. Reacting to Ramesh\u2019s social media post raising concerns over trade deficits, automobiles, intellectual property rights, refined fuel exports, and the European Union\u2019s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), Goyal questioned the Congress party\u2019s credibility on trade negotiations. \u201cIs this a case of sour grapes?\u201d the minister asked, remarking that those who failed to act while in power were now attempting to undermine a deal of historic scale. He said India paid a \u201cheavy economic price\u201d when FTA talks were stalled between 2013 and 2022, costing the country jobs, exports, and growth opportunities. Rejecting the charge that the agreement was over-sold, Goyal highlighted the size and significance of the pact, describing it as one of the world\u2019s largest trade agreements. He pointed to the combined GDP of nearly USD 25 trillion, annual trade of USD 11 trillion, and access to a common market of almost two billion people. The minister emphasised that tariff elimination on USD 33 billion worth of India\u2019s labour-intensive exports from the very first day would deliver immediate benefits to Indian workers, exporters, and small businesses. Responding to Congress\u2019s warning that the FTA could widen India\u2019s trade deficit due to tariff reductions on over 96 per cent of EU exports, Goyal said the agreement was carefully negotiated to protect domestic interests while expanding India\u2019s global footprint. On CBAM, which the Congress said could hurt India\u2019s aluminium and steel exports, Goyal said the government had proactively engaged with the EU to identify solutions through dialogue and cooperation. He stressed that India had not adopted a rigid stance and remained confident of safeguarding national interests. Addressing concerns over regulatory standards, Goyal clarified that health and safety norms remained intact under the agreement and were structured to prevent unjustified trade barriers. On intellectual property rights, he said provisions were aligned with the WTO\u2019s TRIPS framework, preserving public health safeguards, technology transfer rights, and recognition of India\u2019s traditional knowledge systems. The minister also dismissed fears regarding services and automobile imports. He said services commitments stayed within India\u2019s existing domestic framework, while automobile liberalisation was quota-based, limited to premium segments, and phased. Electric vehicle imports, he added, would see a five-year lag, giving Indian manufacturers time to strengthen their capabilities. Goyal said the policy would encourage European manufacturers to shift from imports to local production, boosting the Make in India initiative and creating jobs. On refined fuel exports \u2014 India\u2019s largest export category to the EU \u2014 the minister said trade flows were influenced by global factors and that the FTA represented a long-term strategic partnership built on trust and mutual respect. \u201cI hope the opposition sheds this pessimistic outlook,\u201d Goyal said, adding that the government\u2019s priority was to expand opportunities for Indian youth, businesses, and workers, not to act as a roadblock to economic growth. India and the European Union began negotiations for the FTA in 2007. After 16 rounds, talks were suspended in 2013 due to unresolved issues and resumed in June 2022. The agreement was finalised and announced this week, nearly 18 years after negotiations first began.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,637,171],"tags":[645,641,644,642,646,638,643,647,640,431,649,639,648,85],"class_list":["post-2321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-economy-trade","category-politics","tag-cbam","tag-congress-criticism","tag-eu-trade","tag-free-trade-agreement","tag-global-trade-deal","tag-india-eu-fta","tag-indian-economy","tag-indian-exports","tag-jairam-ramesh","tag-make-in-india","tag-national-news","tag-piyush-goyal","tag-political-reactions","tag-undercovereditor-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/undercovereditor.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/undercovereditor.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/undercovereditor.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undercovereditor.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undercovereditor.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2321"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/undercovereditor.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2326,"href":"https:\/\/undercovereditor.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321\/revisions\/2326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undercovereditor.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/undercovereditor.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undercovereditor.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undercovereditor.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}