00:00India and the European Union have just signed what's been called the mother of all deals.
00:05A free trade agreement, decades in the making, between two of the world's four largest economies.
00:10Prime Minister Narendra Modi was right to sign the deal, not just because India needs it.
00:15All Europe wants it, but because of the effect that it's likely to have on President Donald.
00:20Trump.
00:21At Davos, Ursula von der Leyen made India the centerpiece.
00:25Of Europe's own declaration of independence.
00:27The continent is beset on all sides.
00:30By Russian aggression, Chinese coercion and its own manifold weakness.
00:35On top of that, anxiety about American abandonment has turned into...
00:40Alarm at Washington's intimidation.
00:42India, by contrast, has a vision of stability.
00:45It offers a steadily growing market.
00:47It poses no existential security.
00:50New Delhi may not align perfectly with the European capitals.
00:55On issues from climate to Ukraine.
00:57But it doesn't seek to coerce.
01:00For months, however, New Delhi hesitated.
01:05It worried that concessions to Europe would become the baseline for a fresh round of demands.
01:10From America's first ideologues in Washington.
01:12But any realistic prospect of a reliable...
01:15U.S.-India deal has faded.
01:17Trump seems to want India to humiliate itself.
01:20Thank him for the privilege.
01:21That's something Modi simply cannot agree to do.
01:23Everything we know about...
01:25Trump suggests he will see this deal as defiance.
01:27A continent that he has mocked and pressured.
01:30Teaming up with the country that he is trying to corner.
01:32His reaction is unlikely to be measured.
01:35But Modi should welcome that, not fear it.
01:37Trump respects strength.
01:39Or at least the appearance of...
01:40Europe and Brazil get bullied.
01:42China and Russia do not.
01:44Faced with an unframed...
01:45India has found that she has worryingly little leverage.
01:48Signing one of the biggest bylaws...
01:50International trade deals in history is a way to create some.
01:53It forces Washington to recognize...
01:55That India has options.
01:57And in fact, it can act on them.
01:59Incidentally...
02:00It also offers the Indian economy a new direction for its energy.
02:03Energy that has been frustrated by trade...
02:05Barriers erected by America and by China.
02:07Modi had a shot at making history.
02:10This time, he took it.
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