Overview
- Commerce minister Piyush Goyal travelled to London on a three‑day visit (June 25–27) to meet UK trade minister Peter Kyle and industry leaders to finalise administrative steps for the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Double Contribution Convention (DCC).
- The UK deals will begin tariff liberalisation and a reciprocal social‑security mechanism for temporary workers on July 15, so officials are aligning regulatory roadmaps, customs coordination and implementation timetables to avoid disruption at launch.
- Goyal led government‑to‑business roundtables with banks, manufacturers and tech groups including HSBC, Rolls‑Royce, Tata and JP Morgan to translate tariff and services openings into investment and supply‑chain plans.
- India’s separate interim trade understanding with the United States remains substantively agreed but on hold because New Delhi insists Washington provide a legal tariff framework that gives Indian exporters a clear edge over rival producers before the pact is brought into force.
- Legal changes in the US — a Supreme Court ruling that struck down earlier IEEPA‑based tariffs and a temporary 10% levy set to expire on July 24 — have created a timing deadline that will determine whether the February 6 framework (which had envisaged cutting effective US tariffs to about 18% from roughly 50%) can be implemented as intended.