Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever on Friday took a veiled swipe at US President Donald Trump’s tariff policy, mocking countries that impose trade barriers “arbitrarily” and arguing that the India-EU Free Trade Agreement would help the two economies withstand economic disruption and coercion.

“More and more voices today are calling for barriers to go up, for markets to be shut off, for tariffs to be imposed. Some do this entirely arbitrarily. They decide something on Monday, they revoke it on Wednesday,” De Wever said at the India-Belgium high-level dialogue on the India-EU FTA in Mumbai.

“I am not going to say the name, but you know these people who do it arbitrarily, without any economic logic at all,” he said while addressing  Indian and Belgian business representatives.

De Wever said such policies “deliberately and structurally distort markets” and inflict economic damage on trade partners by seeking to make them dependent. “These strategies of protectionism and unfair competition put our world economy and our geopolitical stability under strain,” he said.

He also announced that a delegation comprising companies from Belgium’s port, terminal, logistics, chemical and energy sectors would visit India in February 2027 to firm up business opportunities.

‘Win-win agreement’

Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, in his address, described India-EU FTA as a “win-win agreement” that would open opportunities for farmers, start-ups and women entrepreneurs while protecting sensitive sectors on both sides.

“India and Belgium have a choice to be swept by the chaos or build trust and cooperation. We chose to build, connect and work together. Belgian and Indian economies complement each other,” Goyal said.

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Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis pitched the state as the preferred destination for Belgian investment. “If Belgium companies are looking at India for investment after the FTA, come to Maharashtra,” Fadnavis said, highlighting the state’s manufacturing ecosystem.

He said Belgium-Maharashtra projects should be fast-tracked and offered dedicated teams to work with prospective investors. “Come to Maharashtra and from here serve India and the world. Maharashtra is volunteering to convert strategic direction into action,” he said.

The dialogue at the Jio World Convention Centre was jointly organised by Port of Antwerp-Bruges, the Belgian PM’s Chancellery, Belgium’s Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Flanders Investment & Trade and the Consulate-General of Belgium in Mumbai.