The European angle. Listening to assessments circulating in European diplomatic circles, the remarks of Anil Wadhwa — former Indian ambassador to Italy, Poland, Omand and Thailand — reflect a growing trend: New Delhi, while insisting on its strategic autonomy, needs reliable partners.
- India aims to fast-track trade, investment and Geographical Indications (GI) negotiations with the European Union.
- “India and the EU today share converging views on many dossiers, starting with their perception of the Chinese threat, and both have much to gain from bilateral cooperation,” the ambassador, today a senior fellow of the Vivekananda International Foundation, explains to Decode39.
Zoom on Italy. For Wadhwa, “Italy in particular has re-emerged as a significant economic and defence partner for India.”
- “New agreements have been signed in the fields of migration and mobility, defence, innovation, space, science and technology, as well as trade and investment.”
- “India will now look at Italy with renewed interest. This is a favourable period for Indian and Italian businesses to start taking each other seriously again.”
Why it matters. The impact of the tariffs risks undermining the relationship between Washington and New Delhi.
- “The additional 25% tariffs imposed today by Trump, on top of the existing 25%, will end up excluding Indian products from the U.S. market,” Wadhwa predicts.
- “Since many of these are labour-intensive exports, the consequences will be layoffs, difficulties for the SME sector, and an unprecedented level of resentment against Trump and the United States.”
The risk. “As a result, cooperation in numerous other sectors, painstakingly built up by both sides over the last 25 years, will also be undermined.”
- According to Wadhwa’s analysis, India and Indians in general will begin to perceive the United States as an unreliable and undeserving partner.
- For a large market like India, which is already the world’s fourth-largest economy, this shift in societal perception will affect people-to-people ties, reducing the number of Indian students choosing the U.S. and tourists travelling there.
Bottom line. The American tariffs are not only pushing India to diversify its partnerships: they also open a strategic window for Europe — and for Italy in particular — to strengthen economic and political ties with New Delhi, while Indian trust in Washington continues to erode.
