India on Thursday signed a free trade agreement, officially dubbed as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), with the UK - its 16th trade pact so far - as the country aims to boost bilateral trade and investments.
The deal fell through over unresolved disagreements over contentious issues, mainly on agriculture and automotive sector tariffs.
One must wonder whether Mr Modi's efforts to wine and dine the Big Two of today's world were seen as a sign of weakness rather than a proffered arm of friendship, points out R Jagannathan.
Donald Trump's tariffs, meant as political punishment, have avoided the predicted chaos, lifting US growth, weakening rivals, and letting him claim victory in a resilient global economy, observes T T Ram Mohan.
The comments came a day after US President Donald Trump said that Washington is "very close" to the trade pact with India.
The restructuring of tariffs by the US has led to a shift in the list of key product suppliers to the American market, with India emerging as one of the beneficiaries at the expense of China and Canada, an official said on Monday. As per an analysis, India's share in the USA's electronics exports has increased to 7.2 per cent to 3.5 per cent year-on-year in May, while China's share dipped to 11 per cent from 22 per cent during the same period.
'Geopolitically and diplomatically it's a very difficult situation for India.'
In trade negotiations, as in chess, sometimes you need to accept a temporary disadvantage to secure a better long-term position, points out Sonal Varma, chief economist (India and Asia ex-Japan) at Nomura.
Strategic affairs experts express concern over US President Donald Trump's tariffs on India, his 'bullying tactics,' and increasing attempts to hyphenate New Delhi with Islamabad, signaling a potential shift in the bilateral relationship.
United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday said India has not been a good trading partner and announced that he will raise the tariffs on New Delhi 'very substantially' over the next 24 hours because it is buying Russian oil.
India's annual oil import bill could rise by $9-11 billion if the country is compelled to move away from Russian crude in response to US threats of additional tariffs or penalties on Indian exports, analysts said. India, the world's third-largest oil consumer and importer, has reaped significant benefits by swiftly substituting market-priced oil with discounted Russian crude following Western sanctions on Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
PM being welcomed by the Prime Minister of Canada, Mr. Mark Joseph Carney on the sidelines of the 51st G7 Summit at Kananaskis, in Canada on June 17, 2025.
India has cautioned against 'double standards' regarding its energy procurement from Russia, asserting that it is based on national interests and market dynamics, following a threat of secondary sanctions from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
The point to note for India is that we must not panic. The United States may be our largest export destination, but high tariffs will not exactly mean gloom and doom. Sure, we can throw some morsels as we continue negotiating, but we must be firm that some red lines cannot be crossed, no matter what, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
India's pharmaceuticals and medical devices industries are still hopeful that trade negotiations with the US could cut a fairer deal for both sides, after President Donald Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff rate on India on a social networking platform without divulging the finer details.
United States President Donald Trump paid homage to soccer great Pele after being met with boos and cheers from the crowd at the Club World Cup final on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Iran on Sunday vowed to avenge the United States bombing of three of its major nuclear facilities saying the American strikes will have 'everlasting consequences'.
US President Donald Trump has announced a 25 per cent plus tariff on India from Aug 1. Trump, describing India as a "friend", said the US has done relatively "little business" with the country because of its high tariffs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit the United Kingdom by the end of this month, with the India-UK free trade deal expected to be formally signed. Discussions on expanding bilateral ties in defence and security are also anticipated.
The stock and bond markets told Trump firmly that any idea of isolating China would lead to harming the US economy and this forced Trump to backtrack, points out Aakar Patel.
China has expressed its support for Russia's initiative to revive the Russia-India-China (RIC) troika, emphasizing its importance for regional and global security and stability.
The presidents of the United States and France, the prime ministers of Britain, Canada, Italy and Japan, the German chancellor and the heads of the European Council and European Union met in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada for the 51st G7 Summit on Monday, June 16, 2025.
Siam argues that a 2040 ban could destabilise ongoing and future investments and threaten millions of jobs in the automotive value chain.
India and the UK on Thursday inked a landmark free trade agreement (FTA) that will cut tariffs on British whisky, cars and an array of items, besides boosting bilateral trade by around $34 billion annually.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday conveyed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian India's 'deep concern' over Iran's conflict with Israel and called for immediate de-escalation of the situation through 'dialogue and diplomacy'.
Google's stance on the optimism and pro-innovation around artificial intelligence (AI) is very similar to the principles adopted by the Indian government under its IndiaAI Mission, the company's vice-president of government affairs and public policy in the Asia-Pacific Region, Wilson White, said.
'Modi is such a Prime Minister who always thinks about Sikhs. All the pending issues of Sikhs, which have not been resolved to date, are being resolved, including the Kartarpur Sahib corridor. There should not be such protests against him, and no Sikh can tolerate this'
'The logic every one of our neighbours must realise is that working with India will give you benefits, and not working with India has a cost.'
Mr Trump's actions, because of their extreme nature and the dangerous rhetoric that accompanies them, receive the most attention, points out Mihir S Sharma.
Trump met with his trade team on Tuesday, and the tariffs he announces at a Rose Garden ceremony at 4 pm ET Wednesday will go into effect "immediately," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a press briefing.
After registering a positive growth for two months, India's exports slipped into negative territory again, contracting 2.17 per cent year-on-year to $38.73 billion in May due to a fall in global petroleum prices, while trade deficit narrowed at $21.88 billion during the month.
'As far as I'm concerned, how effective the Rafale was or frankly, how effective other systems were -- to me, the proof of the pudding is the destroyed and disabled airfields on the Pakistani side'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said he was proud of the manner in which the multi-party delegations presented India's views in various countries on the need to eradicate the menace of terrorism following the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor.
The company is targeting countries like Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, and the UK which account for over 70 per cent of Europe's two-wheeler volumes.
'The government is actively engaging with EU to ensure that concerns of Indian companies and hard-to-abate sectors are adequately addressed under CBAM'
Australia, Canada, US and UK are restricting immigration, but other countries are opening their doors.
The 17 rare earth elements that are at the centre of the current crisis are critical components of everyday products -- from cars to jet engines to electronics like smartphones and flat-screen TVs.
Finding solutions to address non-tariff barriers would be important for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the European Union (EU) and both sides are actively working on resolving these issues, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday. He said the two sides are "pretty" close to finalising the talks for the proposed free trade pact.
Elon Musk-led Tesla Inc is yet to express interest in India's flagship scheme to attract global investment in electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing, said Union Minister for Heavy Industries H D Kumaraswamy on Monday. In contrast, multiple global automobile giants -- such as Mercedes-Benz, koda Auto Volkswagen, Hyundai Motor, and Kia Motors -- are keen to participate, the minister noted.
Consider this: despite a traffic of over 130 million passengers flying international-to-international (I2I) routes per annum over India, only one-sixth of the long-haul traffic (26 million) emanates from the country.
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