Britain and India sign free trade pact during PM Modi’s visit
The United Kingdom and India have signed a trade agreement that will reduce tariffs on goods from textiles to whisky, cars and spices and allow more market access for businesses.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed the agreement on Thursday as a “landmark moment” for both countries. Starmer hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his Chequers country estate, northwest of London, where the UK and Indian trade ministers, Jonathan Reynolds and Piyush Goyal, formally signed the agreement.
Starmer and Modi announced in May that they had struck a free trade agreement after three years of stop-start negotiations, with both sides hastening efforts to clinch a deal in the shadow of tariff turmoil unleashed by United States President Donald Trump. The deal must still be ratified by the UK Parliament.
“This is not the extent or the limit of our collaboration with India,” said Starmer. “We have unique bonds of history, of family and of culture, and we want to strengthen our relationship further, so that it is even more ambitious, modern and focused on the long term.”
Starmer also said the deal was “the biggest and most economically significant trade deal” the UK has made since leaving the European Union in 2020, though the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has forecast that UK exports and imports will be about 15 percent lower in the long run compared with if Brexit had not occurred.
Modi, standing alongside Starmer during a media appearance, described the deal as a “blueprint for our shared prosperity”.