India-UK Trade Talks Demand Self-Confidence On Both Sides

Focusing on the future can ease the way for sensible give-and-take

- MIHIR SHARMA

Two Aprils ago, the UK’s prime minister promised he would deliver a free-trade agreement (FTA) with India “by Diwali." That prime minister, Boris Johnson, left office a few months later and 2022’s iteration of the Indian Festival of Lights passed without anything being signed. Since then, another Diwali (and another British prime minister) has come and gone with no trade deal on the horizon.

There is enough blame to go around. Both sides, however, are displaying remarkable short-sightedness in their negotiating tactics.

For the UK, the simple fact is that, outside the European Union, it is no longer an economy of such size and potential that it can expect massive concessions from trade partners. Brexiteers might have promised that a liberated Britain could negotiate without one hand tied behind its back by Brussels, the EU headquarters. But that hand is still there: British regulations are largely harmonized with EU rules and its supply chains are closely integrated with the EU’s as well.