India is preparing for a series of high-stakes trade engagements in the coming weeks, starting Monday, including its first in-person talks with the United States in six months, signing a free trade agreement with New Zealand, its first direct negotiations with Canada, activating a U.K. free trade agreement and pushing to speed up a review of the 2010 free trade agreement with South Korea, people familiar with the matter said.
They said that the review of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and South Korea is expected to accelerate after the two sides appointed the chief negotiator. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s three-day visit to India starting Sunday is expected to give impetus.
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New Delhi has sought to review the EPA amid concerns about the widening trade deficit since its implementation in 2010. Negotiations to develop the agreement began in 2016, with 11 rounds held so far, the last of which was in July 2024 in Seoul. The issue is expected to come up in talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Lee.
The talks will resume shortly after the 11th round of CEPA upgrade negotiations, held in July 2024 in Seoul, the people cited above said. They added that the leaders of the two countries are expected to discuss this matter during their bilateral meeting on Monday. The two leaders are expected to discuss a range of issues, including shipbuilding, trade and investments, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, bio- and emerging technologies, and people-to-people communication.
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“We are not looking for any results at the leaders’ meeting. However, when the leaders meet, there can be guidance on the way forward on this review as well,” one of them said. India imported goods worth $21.06 billion from South Korea in 2024-25, and exported $5.82 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $15.24 billion.
Meanwhile, an Indian delegation is in Washington for a three-day round of talks starting Monday to finalize an interim bilateral trade agreement with the US under a revised tariff framework, after the reciprocal tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were struck down by the US Supreme Court on February 20. This will be the first personal interaction between the two sides since October 2025.
India is also expected to sign a free trade agreement with New Zealand on April 27, after negotiations that began in March 2025 and ended in December.
In May, India and Canada will hold their first face-to-face round of FTA negotiations in New Delhi, after an initial virtual round in March. The talks were halted for more than two years after then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged Indian involvement in a murder on Canadian soil, but resumed after the change of government in Ottawa.
They added that next month, in May, India and Canada will hold the first actual round of negotiations in New Delhi. A second person said: “Talks are expected to take place in early May. This will be the second round of negotiations, but the first face-to-face talks. The first round of negotiations was actually held from March 9 to 20, 2026.” In March, India and Canada signed new terms of reference for the free trade agreement and negotiations officially resumed.
They are starting over two and a half years after their talks came to an abrupt halt in the wake of then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s claim that Indian agents were involved in the killing of a Khalistani terrorist in Canada. After the change of government in Canada, the Canadian position also changed, paving the way for the FTA talks.
The India-UK FTA, signed in July 2025 as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), is expected to come into force in May. The agreement allows duty-free access for 99% of Indian exports to the UK market and has been ratified by both countries.
