LONDON — The prime ministers of Britain and India sealed a hard-wrought trade agreement on Thursday 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.
Keir Starmer and Narendra 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.
Starmer said it was “the biggest and most economically significant trade deal” Britain has made since leaving the European Union in 2020.
Modi said it was “a historic day in our bilateral relations.”
Alongside the agreement, the two countries announced almost 6 billion pounds ($8 billion) in trade and investment deals in areas including AI, aerospace and dairy products, and pledged to work more closely together in areas such as defense, migration, climate and health.
The trade agreement