Sir Keir Starmer with Narendra Modi at the G20 summit in Rio in December. The trade deal is three years in the making
STEFAN ROUSSEAU/GETTY IMAGES
Perhaps the only thing to be said in favour of Donald Trump’s tariffs is that they have increased the determination of the world’s free-trading countries to lower barriers between each other. The US president can therefore take some credit for the first significant piece of encouraging economic news for some time: the signing yesterday of a trade deal between Britain and India.
The UK-India pact is the biggest trade deal since Brexit. When it comes into effect next year, it will lower tariffs on goods that Britain exports to India, such as whisky, cars and aerospace products. British consumers will in turn benefit from cheaper goods from India, including foodstuffs, textiles and jewellery. According to the British government, 85 per cent of British exports will
