Frankfurt, 27 January 2026 – Commenting on the conclusion of the free trade agreement 

between the EU and India, VDMA’s Executive Director Thilo Brodtmann said:

 

• ‘Export-oriented mechanical and plant engineering needs rule-based trade like it needs 

air to breathe. The free trade agreement between India and the EU brings much-needed 

oxygen to a world increasingly dominated by trade conflicts.’

•  ‘The EU has delivered. With this agreement, Europe is sending a clear signal in favour 

of rules-based trade and against the law of the jungle. Today is a day of celebration for 

export-oriented mechanical engineering.’

• ‘India is one of the fastest-growing and most strategically important markets for our 

industry. In 2024, Germany already exported machinery worth over 4.3 billion euros to 

the country. The reduction of tariffs, which average 7.5 per cent, and technical barriers to 

trade will give European manufacturers a much-needed competitive boost.’

 

VDMA Executive Director Thilo Brodtmann.

 

The VDMA represents 3,500 German and European mechanical and plant engineering companies. The industry stands for innovation, export orientation and small and medium-sized enterprises. The companies employ a total of around 3 million people in the EU-27, more than 1.2 million of them in Germany alone. This makes mechanical and plant engineering the largest employer among the capital goods industries, both in the EU-27 and in Germany. It accounts for an estimated turnover of around 870 billion euros in the European Union. Around 80 per cent of the machinery sold in the EU comes from a manufacturing facility in the internal market.