India and EU Forge Stronger Trade Ties Amid Global Tariff Shifts

The India- Europe Resilience Forum fosters collaboration on critical technologies, semiconductor supply chains, and raw materials, driving resilience through shared strategies, advanced research, and enhanced partnerships across policy and innovation sectors in both regions.

FREMONT, CA: Amidst the strengthening cooperation between India and the European Union in critical technologies, the India-Europe Resilience Forum (IERF) was launched on March 28, 2025, as a Track 1.5 Diplomacy initiative. This forum brings together policy experts and institutions to facilitate dialogue and collaboration on shared, non-traditional security challenges. Four key organisations lead the initiative to enhance strategic engagement between stakeholders in India and Europe.

The International Economic Resilience Forum (IERF) is led by the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies and the Hanns Seidel Foundation India, collaborating with the Centre for Social Research and Educational and Social Studies at Chanakya University.

A joint statement issued following the visit of European Union (EU) commissioners to India, headed by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, underscored the significance of strengthening India- Europe cooperation. Key focus areas included trade and the de-risking of supply chains, investment, emerging critical technologies, innovation, talent, digital and green industrial transitions, the space and geospatial sectors, defense, and people-to-people exchanges.

In this context, both parties reaffirmed their commitment to enhancing the resilience of semiconductor supply chains and fostering collaboration in the high-tech sector. To this end, they agreed to explore joint research and development initiatives in areas such as chip design, heterogeneous integration, sustainable semiconductor technologies, and the advancement of process design kits (PDK), among other critical domains, as stated in a release following the second Trade and Technology Council meeting.

Following the forum’s launch, the inaugural roundtable on Critical Raw Materials (CRM) brought together experts to examine potential areas of collaboration and the associated opportunities and challenges. India and the European Union (EU) remain heavily dependent on imports to meet their CRM requirements, a sector largely dominated by China.

One expert cautioned against the politicisation of critical minerals and recommended the G20 as an appropriate platform for discussion, with Brazil underscoring the importance of supply chain resilience. Another expert highlighted the evolving CRM landscape, suggesting that India and the EU could leverage their strengths. In this regard, India’s long-standing ties with Africa were cited as a potential advantage.

India became the 14th Mineral Security Partnership (MSP) member in June 2023, joining other participating nations, including the EU. The MSP seeks to enhance the security of critical mineral supply chains to support economic prosperity and climate objectives by facilitating investment from both governments and the private sector across the entire value chain, as stated by the Government in a written response to Parliament in October 2023