US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent again criticized the newly concluded European Free Trade Agreement with India. Besent said the agreement showed that the European Union had put commercial interests ahead of its declared support for the Ukrainian people.
“They should do what’s best for them, but I’ll tell you, I’ve found the Europeans to be a big disappointment to me,” Besent said. in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday. The finance minister said he was disappointed by Europe’s stance, claiming Brussels had chosen business interests despite the ongoing war in Ukraine.
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Besent’s remarks came a day after India and the European Union announced the conclusion of negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) on January 27, 2026, under which the EU will reduce tariffs on 99.5% of India’s exports to the region, with most tariffs dropping to 0% immediately once the agreement enters into force.
India, on the other hand, has provided tariff concessions on 97.5% of the value traded between the two economies.
Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič signed a joint political statement on the conclusion of negotiations on a free trade agreement in New Delhi on Tuesday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa.
The move is expected to potentially double EU exports to India by 2032 and save European companies around €4 billion in tariffs.
Bessent said the deal also explains why the European Union refused to accommodate Washington’s decision to impose higher tariffs on India last year. “The Europeans were not willing to join us, and it turned out they wanted to do this trade deal,” he said.
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“So every time you hear European talk about the importance of the Ukrainian people, remember that they are putting business before the Ukrainian people.”
Besent also accused European countries of indirectly financing Russia’s war by buying refined fuel products derived from Russian oil. “Russian oil is going to India, refined products are coming out and Europeans are buying refined products,” Bessent said. “They are financing a war against each other.”
The finance minister also criticized the agreement earlier. In an earlier interview with ABC News, he pointed out that Washington had imposed 25 percent tariffs on India over its purchases of Russian oil, even as Europe continued its trade deal.
“We put a 25% tariff on India for buying Russian oil. Guess what happened last week? The Europeans signed a trade deal with India,” Bessent said. “And to be clear, Russian oil goes to India, refined products come out, and Europeans buy refined products. They are financing a war against each other.”
Bessent also said the Trump administration has put more pressure on Moscow than its European counterparts to try to end the conflict. “Trump worked to negotiate a settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict,” he said, adding that the United States had made “far greater sacrifices” than Europe.
The conclusion of India-EU FTA negotiations marks the end of a two-decade-old process. Talks between the two sides on the deal began in 2007. Talks resumed in 2022, with both sides agreeing to exclude issues on which a deal had so far been elusive.
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The next steps will be to clean up the language in the document over the next 10-15 days, followed by a “legal cleanup.” It will then be sent to all 27 EU member states after translation before being ratified by the European Parliament, according to officials cited by various media. They said that the deal will be launched in at least 5-6 months.
Every time you hear European talk about the importance of the Ukrainian people, remember that they are putting business before the Ukrainian people.
“India has today concluded the largest free trade agreement in its history,” Prime Minister Modi said in a statement on Tuesday.
