What are they for?

In July, "Govt has agreed to cut tariffs on thousands of products imported from UK - from chocolates and cosmetics to cars, silver and Scotch - but reduction and elimination of customs duties will not translate into entire benefit being passed on to consumers." But companies will increase their margins. TOI. "The trade deal with UK may have been under negotiation for three years but the seeds were sown 18 years ago - on 28 June 2007, when India began talks for a Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement." TOI. If Indian citizens are not to see a fall in prices, this whole exercise seems to be a colossal waste of time and money. Seems a lot like our experience with the price of fuel. The price of crude oil started rising from October 2007, reached an eye-watering $128.08 per barrel in July 2008, dropped to $35 in January 2009, climbed to a high of $108.80 in April in 2011, stayed around $100 per barrel till November 2014 when it started to drop sharply and has stayed below $70 per barrel since. eia.gov. However, the retail price of petrol did not go above Rs 73 per liter till 2014, when Mr Narendra Modi was elected prime minister for the first time  (wikipedia). As prices dropped lower the government kept increasing taxes so that the retail price of petrol rose above Rs 90 per liter and has stayed there. cleartax.in. "Petrol tax in India consists of 55% of petrol's retailing price while diesel is 50% of the fuel's retail value." cleartax.in. Though we do not benefit from the agreement with the UK, we have been seriously harmed as, "It was the British intelligence agency GCHQ which handed a dossier to Ottawa of intercepted communications alleging the Indian government was behind various plots to kill Khalistan separatists, according to a Bloomberg documentary." Apparently, GCHQ "intercepted conversations between individuals discussing three potential 'targets': Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, Avtar Singh Khanda in Britain and Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US." TOI. Possibly as a result, "The number of Indian nationals forcibly removed from Canada this year is on track to surpass the record number that was logged in 2024." HT. US President Donald Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on imports from India (BBC) and a fee of $100,000 on H-1B visas which are availed mostly by Indians  (TOI). US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth met India Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on 31 October on the sidelines of the 12th ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM+) in Kuala Lumpur but though "India held all the aces when the Defence Ministers went into the meeting," "he did not use them,  presumably because he did not have the political clearance to do so," wrote KP Nayar. Now Trump has hinted that he may visit India next year for his second visit to the country without giving any reason for the visit. BBC. Seems a little fishy. Like Barack Obama's second visit to India as the chief guest for Republic Day celebrations in January 2015. BBC. Just after intense cross-border firing between India and Pakistan. TOI. All these agreements, meetings and visits. Are they helping us? Or, colonizing us?