Denmark's envoy to India Rasmus Christensen said the European Union and India are close to reaching a trade deal, a major step at a time when US President Trump has imposed tariffs on New Delhi.

The envoy said Denmark sees India as a promising lace to invest.

"I certainly do not see India as a dead economy. On the contrary, it world fastest growing economy. And I think a testament to that fact is that the EU and India is negotiating a free trade agreement. I think that will be mutually beneficial," Christensen told ANI.

India-Denmark Relationship

Diplomatic relations between India and Denmark, established in September 1949, are based on historical links, common democratic traditions and shared desire for regional, as well as international peace and stability.

Bilateral relations were elevated to the level of “Green Strategic Partnership” during the Virtual Summit held on 28 September 2020 between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen.

The current development of renewed India-Denmark relations has been guided by the “Green Strategic Partnership”.

India won't compromise: Modi's strong response to Trump's tariff imposition

In a strong response to US President Donald Trump's 50 percent tariffs on Indian imports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said his country won't compromise and he is even "ready to pay heavy personal price".

The Prime Minister made the remark addressing the MS Swaminathan Centenary International Conference in Delhi.

"For us, the welfare of our farmers is the highest priority. India will never compromise on the interests of its farmers, livestock rearers, and fisherfolk. I know I will have to pay a heavy personal price for this. But I am ready," Modi said.

"For the fisherfolk of my country, for the livestock rearers of my country — today, India is ready. We are continuously working towards increasing farmers’ income and creating new sources of livelihood," he added.

Trump's latest tax crusader takes total duties on import of Indian goods into the United States to 50 percent, 20 percent more than the tariff on China and 31 percent more than on Pakistan.

In an executive order signed, Trump wrote, "I find the Government of India is currently, directly or indirectly, importing Russian Federation oil... in my judgement I determine it necessary to impose an ad valorem duty on imports of articles from India..."

The 50 percent tariff hit comes hours after angry comments about India-US trade relations.

"India has not been a good trading partner... we settled on 25 percent... but I think I'm going to raise that substantially over the next 24 hours because they're buying Russian oil," he told a US broadcaster.

That potential change has been underlined by Trump giving Pakistan a big rate cut on Islamabad's tariff to 19 percent and signing a new trade deal, including plans to develop Pak's oil reserves.

Trump announced on Wednesday that he would increase the tariffs imposed on Indian imports "very substantially" over the next 24 hours due to India's continued purchases of Russian oil.

"India has not been a good trading partner, because they do a lot of business with us, but we don't do business with them. So we settled on 25 percent but I think I'm going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they're buying Russian oil," he told CNBC in a televised interview.

This comes a day after Trump threatened that he would "substantially" raise US tariffs on India over its purchase of Russian oil, stating that the South Asian country doesn't care for the lives lost in Ukraine.