India–EU deal sparks online backlash on Weibo, Truth Social and X
India Today
India Today's Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) team analysed hundreds of posts on China's Weibo and on US conservative platforms, including Truth Social and X, in the hours following the trade agreement. Here is what it found...
A day after India showcased its strength, confidence and national resolve on Republic Day, New Delhi and Brussels finalised a landmark trade agreement, being referred to as the “mother of all deals”, but one that has drawn not just attention, but scrutiny, criticism and even meltdown.
Referring to the deal, even before it was agreed upon, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in an interview said that while Washington imposed 25 per cent tariffs on India for buying Russian oil, Europe went on to sign a trade deal with New Delhi, a move he claimed meant the EU was effectively financing the war against itself.
The discomfort was reflected almost immediately on social media. India Today’s Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) team analysed hundreds of posts on China’s Weibo and on US conservative platforms, including Truth Social and X, in the hours following the trade agreement.
On X, several accounts, including consistent Trump supporters and outspoken anti-Russia voices from Europe and beyond, were found criticising the India-EU trade agreement, which is otherwise being projected as one of the most ambitious and far-reaching deals of the century so far.
The reaction was sharply polarised, shaped more by geopolitics, Trump-era trade policies and the Russia–Ukraine war than by trade economics, India Today discovered.
Several posts originating from the United States argued that the EU had chosen to pursue a trade deal with India despite New Delhi “buying tons of Russian oil”, a claim repeatedly linked to the Ukraine war. Some posts asserted that “not even Trump would do that”, invoking earlier US actions such as pausing trade negotiations with India and seizing Russian-linked tankers.
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