UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to India, with a strong business contingent, augurs well for Delhi. This is especially so when India is facing the blow of 50 per cent tariffs from US President Donald Trump. This is not only good diplomacy, but also good business. Starmer himself said that the India-UK trade partnership, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), is a “launch pad for growth”. Both countries are looking to deepen their partnership in various sectors, ranging from defence to education to critical minerals. Let us try to dig deeper and see how India can gain from this, and where India should focus as far as trade between the two countries is concerned.
The CETA is significant in both depth and breadth. It covers more than 99 per cent of tariff lines in indu