India, May 8 -- India and UK have finally signed the much-awaited free trade agreement. This marks the culmination of a long-drawn process which was put on hold last year on account of elections in both countries. While the trade deal is important on its own merits - it hopes to double the current value of bilateral trade of about 60 billion dollars by 2030 - what makes the agreement even more significant is the tectonic change in the global geoeconomics order since Donald Trump's re-election as the US president.

Given Trump's move to levy reciprocal tariffs on partner countries - subsequently put on hold to negotiate deals - bilateral trade agreements between countries are going to be the norm rather than the exception to global trade g...