|
UK and India leaders Starmer and Modi set
to sign a major trade deal
[July 24, 2025]
LONDON (AP) — British leader Keir Starmer and Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi are set to sign a hard-wrought trade agreement
Thursday that will slash tariffs on products including Scotch whisky and
English gin shipped to India and Indian food and spices sent to the U.K.
The two prime ministers are due to hold a signing ceremony at Chequers,
the British leader’s country residence outside London.
|
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hugs Britain's Prime Minister Keir
Starmer as he arrives at Chequers near Aylesbury, England, Thursday,
July 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung, Pool) |
|
The
trade agreement between India and Britain, the world’s fifth-
and sixth-largest economies, was announced in May, more than
three years after negotiations started, and stalled, under
Britain’s previous Conservative government.
The U.K. government said the deal will reduce India’s average
tariff on British goods from 15% to 3%. Whisky and gin tariffs
will be halved from 150% to 75% before falling to 40% by year 10
of the deal. Automotive tariffs will fall from over 100% to 10%
under a quota.
Britain said the deal is expected to increase bilateral trade by
25.5 billion pounds ($35 billion) annually from 2040 and add
almost 5 billion pounds ($6.8 billion) a year to the British
economy.
Starmer said the agreement was “a major win for Britain” and
would create thousands of jobs.
India’s Trade Ministry said in May that 99% of Indian exports
would face no import duty under the deal, which applies to
products including clothes, shoes and food.
Formal talks began in 2022 on a free trade agreement that
then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed as a key goal after
Britain’s departure from the European Union in 2020. Johnson
famously promised to have a deal done by the Diwali holiday in
October of that year.
The two countries held 13 rounds of negotiations without a
breakthrough before talks were suspended while both nations held
general elections in 2024.
Modi was re-elected and Britain replaced the Conservative
government with one led by Starmer’s center-left Labour Party.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
|
|
|
