•Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his UK counterpart, Keir Starmer.

U.K. and India’s bilateral trade is set to get a more than $34 billion annual boost over the long term following their free trade agreement, with the countries’ leaders calling it a “historic” deal.

CNBC reported that the FTA, which slashes duties on goods including textiles, alcohol and automobiles, was signed on Thursday in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his UK counterpart, Keir Starmer.

Both sides had finalized the trade pact in May after three years of intense negotiations — marked by thorny issues such as visas, tariff reduction and tax breaks.

Talks gained momentum and both governments accelerated to seal the deal as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats sent the world in disarray.

The agreement between the world’s fifth and sixth largest economies is expected to boost their bilateral trade by 25.5 billion pounds per year by 2040.

Trade in goods and services stood at over 40 billion pounds in 2024.

The deal offers “huge benefits to both of our countries,” boosting wages, raising living standards and bringing down prices for consumers, Starmer said.

India’s Modi lauded the agreement as “a blueprint for our shared prosperity,” highlighting how Indian goods including textiles, jewelry, agricultural products and engineering items would benefit from a better access to the U.K. market.

MILAN (Reuters) -The European Union has already prepared a list of tariffs worth 21 billion euros ($24.52 billion) on U.S. goods if the two sides fail to reach a trade deal, Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in a newspaper interview on Monday.

President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to impose a 30% tariff on imports from Mexico and the EU starting on Aug. 1, after weeks of negotiations with major U.S. trading partners failed to reach a comprehensive deal.

Tajani also told daily Il Messaggero that to help the euro zone economy the European Central Bank should consider a new “quantitative easing” bond-buying-programme, and more interest rate cuts.

The European Union said on Sunday it would extend its suspension of countermeasures to U.S. tariffs until early August and continue to press for a negotiated settlement.

Tajani said the 21-billion-euro package of tariffs the EU has already prepared could be followed by a second set if a deal with the U.S proves impossible.

He added, however, that he was confident that progress could be made in negotiations.

“Tariffs hurt every one, starting with the United States,” he said. “If stock markets fall that puts at risk the pensions and the savings of the Americans.”

He said the goal should be “zero tariffs” and an open market among Canada, the United States, Mexico and Europe.

• Akon

The government of Senegal has cancelled Akon’s $6 billion plan to build a futuristic “Akon City” on the country’s Atlantic coast, after years of inaction and missed payments by the Senegalese-American singer.

Bloomberg reports that the project, first announced in 2020, was pitched as a tech-driven smart city inspired by Marvel’s Wakanda and promised to transform the quiet village of Mbodiène into a modern hub powered by solar energy and Akon’s own cryptocurrency.

But five years later, the Senegalese government has reclaimed most of the 136 acres of land initially allocated to the singer, after construction failed to begin and financial commitments were not met.

“That project no longer exists,” Serigne Mamadou Mboup, head of Sapco-Senegal, the state agency responsible for developing coastal and tourism zones, told L’Agence de presse sénégalaise.”

Bloomberg reports on Wednesday that SAPCO said it would now pursue a scaled-down, state-backed tourism project in the same area, with a budget of 665 billion CFA francs (about $1.2 billion), largely sourced from private investors.

Akon will retain just 8 hectares of the original land allocation, which will be absorbed into the broader development.

Despite the setback, officials say the revised plan could generate up to 15,000 jobs in its first phase, offering long-awaited economic hope for Mbodiène residents.