PM Modi And Keir Starmer Hail UK-India Trade Deal

British leader Keir Starmer and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday sealed a hard-wrought trade agreement 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. Starmer and Modi met at Chequers, the British leader's official country residence outside London, where the U.K. and Indian trade ministers, Jonathan Reynolds and Piyush Goyal, formally signed the agreement. Speaking at a joint news conference, the two prime ministers hailed the deal, with Starmer labelling it "the biggest and most economically significant trade deal the UK has made since leaving the EU." 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.