India-Chile trade pact nearing finish line as Goyal says Canada talks progressing well, Mexico keen on early harvest

Hyderabad: India is negotiating free trade agreements (FTAs) with several countries and groups, with talks with Chile “quite ripe” for conclusion and negotiations with Canada making good progress, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said.

Goyal made the remarks to reporters during a two-day visit to the Netherlands. He also met Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Sjoerd Sjoerdsma, Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Heleen Herbert and North Holland King’s Commissioner Arthur van Dijk. He is accompanying a business delegation.

Goyal said talks with the South Africa-led Southern African Customs Union (SACU) have just started, so conclusion may take time. India and SACU signed terms of reference (ToR) in August to formally begin negotiations towards a preferential trade agreement. SACU’s five members are Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa.

Goyal said Mexico is “very” keen on an early harvest trade agreement. Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal is in Mexico City on a two-day visit to advance bilateral trade and economic ties, and the department of commerce said it would see the launch of PTA negotiations with the signing of ToR. Bilateral trade between India and Mexico fell by over 9 per cent to USD 7.83 billion in 2025-26, with exports of USD 5.72 billion and imports of USD 2.1 billion, leaving the trade balance in India’s favour.

On Mercosur, Goyal expressed hope that the continuity of government in Brazil following its election would speed up talks to expand the India-Mercosur Preferential Trade Agreement. The pact, which came into effect on June 1, 2009, gives preferential tariff concessions on 450 tariff lines by India and 452 by Mercosur. Mercosur comprises Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay, and both sides are looking to expand the pact’s scope.

Goyal said negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Israel are slow for “obvious” reasons because of the West Asia crisis, though India is ready to speed them up. The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and India already has trade pacts with the UAE and Oman.

On the Eurasian Economic Union, he said the proposed FTA covers only goods and not services, so India is still assessing the benefits. India and the EAEU signed ToR on August 20 last year, and the first round of talks was held in November 2025.

Goyal said Ecuador wants an FTA, Egypt has invited India to discuss deeper cooperation, and other African countries have approached India for an FTA with all of Africa, with the African Union or in specific sectors. He said India is pursuing trade agreements to improve market access for sectors including textiles, leather, footwear, agriculture, marine products, auto components and precision engineering.

On the United States, Goyal said India will have a comparative advantage over other countries and get preferential access under the pact. India and the US announced in February the finalisation of the framework for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement, but changes in the US tariff landscape have led to further negotiations.

On capacity for negotiations, Goyal said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been focused on making sure the learnings do not become a one-time affair. He said that over the last three years or so, the government has prepared manuals that work as standard operating procedures for organised FTA negotiations. Every FTA, he said, comes with documentation for future officers, “because people keep changing.”

with inputs from PTI