India, UK resume ‘pathbreaking’ free trade talk as Donald Trump’s tariff threat looms - 5 key developments

India and the UK relaunched their talks on a long-awaited trade deal on Monday under the shadow of tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. Commerce minister Piyush Goyal and UK business secretary Jonathan Reynolds are meeting in Delhi for discussions.

India-UK FTA negotiations were launched on January 13 2022. Thirteen rounds of negotiations were held till December 2023. The 14th round of negotiations, which began on January 10 2024, was underway when negotiations were paused by the UK side in May 2024 due to their elections.

Here's look at the 5 key development:

• Following the meeting on Monday, Piyush Goyal said it will be "a pathbreaking free trade agreement" that will give the businesses and people of both countries huge opportunities to grow probably two to three times in the next ten years. "Both Jonathan and I have agreed to resume free trade agreement negotiations in a very cordial atmosphere," he said.

• Meanwhile, noting that ‘it is a good place to start,’ Reynolds said, “both of us want to do more and that's why I am so pleased to be here today to kick-start these negotiations, to strengthen our close and vibrant relationship and unlock new opportunities for businesses and consumers across both the UK and India”
• On what was discussued during the meeting, a release said, “Both sides have agreed to resume negotiations towards a balanced, mutually beneficial and a forward-looking deal that delivers mutual growth and builds on the strengths of the two complementary economies. The strengthening of the trading relationship between our two countries has the potential to unlock opportunities for business and consumers across both our nations and build further on our already deep ties.”
• UK and Indian officials says significant progress has already been achied in negotiations, with most chapters of a future deal agreed upon. However, discussions remain stalled on key issues, including visas for short-term Indian workers in the UK and New Delhi’s demand for social security payouts for Indians who have worked there, a Financial Times report said. Ahead on the meeting, Reynolds commented it was a “no brainer” to seek a trade deal, with India as the country is on path of becoming third largest ecomomy in the world

• Earlier, the UK Keir Starmer’s government highlighted that agreement with India as one of its priorities for fresh trade deals — with a six-strong group of Gulf countries, Israel, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey also on the list