WASHINGTON: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has criticized the Free Trade Agreement between India and the European Union as “very disappointing”, stating that Europe prioritized trade over supporting Ukraine in the Russia-Ukraine war.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in an interview with CNBC’s ‘Squawk on the Street’ said, “Again, they should do what’s best for them, but I will tell you I find the Europeans very disappointing because the Europeans are on the front line of the Ukraine-Russia war”
Bessent was responding to a question on the “massive” trade deal between Europe and India and whether that threatens America, given that the countries are moving ahead with free trade without Washington.
“…India started buying sanctioned Russian oil, and guess who was buying the refined products? The Europeans. So, the Europeans have been funding the war against themselves and like something that you couldn’t have made up.”
“The US sanctioned or put a 25 per cent tariff on India for buying the Russian oil. The Europeans were unwilling to join us, and it turns out that they wanted to do this trade deal. So, every time you hear a European talk about the importance of the Ukrainian people, remember that they put trade ahead of the Ukrainian people. Trade — European trade, more important than ending the war in Ukraine,” Bessent said.
When asked if the Europeans need energy, Bessent said, “At a price, they want cheap energy, but we could have cheaper energy too if we were willing to buy sanctioned Russian oil.”
Bessent’s comments were the second remarks in as many days by the Trump administration on the trade deal between India and the EU, dubbed as the “mother of all deals”.
On Tuesday, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa were leading the signing of the trade deal in New Delhi, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said India came out on “top” in the trade deal.
“I’ve looked at some of the details of the deal so far. I think India comes out on top on this, frankly. They get more market access into Europe,” Greer had said in an interview to Fox Business.
Greer was responding to a question on the trade deal signed between India and the EU. “It sounds like they (India) have some additional immigration rights. I don’t know for sure, but President (Ursula) von der Leyen of the EU has talked about mobility for Indian workers into Europe,” Greer said.
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