Subject: Re: EU-India Mother of Trade Deals

Some will. However, it depends on the industry.

Manufacturing has been moving to Eastern Europe, Poland, Romania, Serbia, for lower wage rates.

Audi built a new plant in Mexico, a few years ago. That plant builds the Q5, for both the US and EU. From 2027, the VW Golf, for EU sale, will be built in Mexico, while VW closes plants and assembly lines in Germany.

Remember the Jeep Renegade? They were final assembled in Melfi, Italy. The automatic transmissions for them were built in Indiana, shipped to Italy, installed in the cars, then shipped back to the US.

I ran some numbers a while back. JLR is building a new plant in India. By the numbers I have seen, it will have enough capacity to replace the entire output of the two Land Rover plants in the UK. The UK and India signed a free trade agreement last summer.

The Indian supply chain may not be as developed as the Mexican chain, yet. I can see the really sophisticated electronics imported from China, and the precision machined parts coming from Europe. Everything assembled by workers making less than $2USD/hr, and the completed cars shipped to Europe. Same with appliances. Same with electronics. Is anyone, outside if high end fashion houses, still making clothes or shoes in Europe?

I expect the EU to have the same experience the US has had, with the same social upheaval.

Steve