Kolkata: Nobel laureate economist Abhijit Banerjee said the India-EU free trade agreement was “a strategic alignment”, sending a signal to Washington, amid the high tariffs imposed by the Donald Trump administration, that “we don’t need the US as much as America thinks we do”. Speaking on the just-concluded India-EU free trade agreement (FTA) – a landmark free trade agreement to create a market of two billion people – Banerjee said trade deals were only an initial step. India, Banerjee noted, has been emphasising sectors such as textiles, leather and jewellery, where outcomes are likely to vary sharply. Banerjee said India had yet to fully grasp the nature of US resistance under President Donald Trump. “India is a big market, but the US is a gigantic market,” Banerjee said, observing that Europe’s strength lies in luxury goods and machinery, while America remains unmatched in scale.