Overview
- Officials from both sides formally signed Terms of Reference to start negotiations for a Preferential Trade Agreement on October 28, 2026, with India’s Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal and Mexico’s Undersecretary Luis Rosendo Gutiérrez Romano signing the document.
- The ToR set the scope and negotiating roadmap and list chapters such as market access for goods, rules of origin, customs procedures, trade facilitation, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, dispute settlement and trade remedies.
- Negotiations are driven in part by Mexico’s tariff increases that took effect on January 1, 2026, which raised duties on roughly 1,400 tariff lines by about 5%–50% and put pressure on Indian exporters in autos, textiles, footwear, chemicals and other sectors.
- India exported $5.73 billion in goods to Mexico in 2025–26, with automobiles the largest single export at about $1.92 billion, and officials say the PTA talks aim to preserve market access while expanding investment and supply‑chain links.
- Next steps include bilateral technical talks, outreach to business communities and planning for a Mexican business mission to India in Q1 2027, but no tariff concessions or final market‑access commitments have been agreed yet.