India and the EU recently announced the conclusion of what has been touted as the “mother of all deals”, but a key question remains: will Turkey be able to reroute its goods to India under the agreement? Officials have clarified that while Indian products can move into Turkiye through Europe, Turkish goods cannot enter India under FTA terms, even if shipped via EU ports. “Our goods go into the EU, and then they can go to any country with which the EU has a customs union, but Turkiye will not get the benefit because it is not part of the EU as a territory in the FTA. So, Turkiye cannot export to India and benefit from concessions,” said one official, who did not wish to be identified.Under the EU–Turkiye Customs Union, Ankara is required to align with the EU’s common external tariff, meaning that when the EU reduces duties for an FTA partner such as India, Turkiye must extend the same tariff benefit to Indian goods.This is because of Turkiye’s position in the union arrangement with the EU, which has been in force since 1996. The arrangement allows industrial goods and processed agricultural products to move freely between the EU and Turkiye without tariffs or quotas, while requiring Turkiye to apply the EU’s common external tariff on imports from third countries. The customs union, however, does not extend to primary agriculture, services, investment, government procurement or digital trade. India and the EU announced the conclusion of negotiations for the FTA on Tuesday, with the agreement expected to be signed and implemented within the year. Under the deal, preferential market access will be provided on 96.8% of tariff lines, covering 99.5% of India’s exports by volume and 90.7% by value to the EU, which will become duty-free. Officials explained that although Turkiye must mirror EU tariff reductions for FTA partners such as India, it does not gain reciprocal access because it is not a signatory to the India-EU agreement. “Turkish goods, however, cannot use the India-EU FTA to enter India duty-free, even if they are shipped via EU ports. They remain Turkish in origin and therefore do not meet the rules of origin under India’s FTA, which is signed with the EU and not with Turkiye,” said Ajay Srivastava, cofounder, Global Trade Research Initiative, as cited by ET. The clarification comes amid strained relations between New Delhi and Ankara following Turkiye’s backing of Islamabad and its condemnation of India’s strikes on terror camps in Pakistan in May under Operation Sindoor. Trade figures show that India’s exports to Turkiye declined by 14.1% to $5.71 billion in 2024–25 from $6.65 billion in the previous financial year, while imports from Turkiye fell 20.8% to around $3 billion. Turkiye accounts for about 1.3% of India’s total exports of $437 billion in 2023–24. India’s exports to Turkiye include mineral fuels and oil, electrical machinery and equipment, automobiles and parts, organic chemicals, pharmaceutical products, tanning and dyeing items, plastics and rubber, cotton, man-made fibres and filaments, and iron and steel. Imports from Turkiye comprise marble blocks and slabs, fresh apples, gold, vegetables, lime and cement, mineral oil, chemicals, natural or cultured pearls, and iron and steel.