India's Trade Agreements with US, UK, and Oman Set to Become Operational in April

The trade agreements with the US, UK and Oman are likely to become operational by April, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said Friday. To finalise the legal text of the trade deal with the US, chief negotiator from the Indian side, Joint Secretary in the Department of Commerce Darpan Jain would be leading a team of officials to Washington from February 23. The team will be in the US till the end of next week. The signing of the agreement would be done sometime in March and it will be operationalised in April, Goyal said. US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer is likely to visit India in March to sign the agreement. In an event at the AI Impact Summit here, US Ambassador Sergio Gor said that the India-US trade deal is set to be inked soon. As part of the trade deal the US has announced reducing additional tariffs on Indian imports to 18% from 50%. Of the 50% tariffs, 25% that was imposed on India for buying crude oil from Russia has already been removed. The remaining 25% tariff was for balancing the trade between the two countries and it will be reduced to 18%. The formal notification reducing the reciprocal tariffs to 18% is likely to be issued soon, commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal said. The deal with the US was finalised on February 4 and announced on February 7. The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) agreement with the UK, that was signed on July 24, 2025 last year, could also be operationalised in April, the minister said. The CETA was debated at length in the House of Commons and the resolution at the end of the debate said that the “This House has considered the India-UK FTA ”. The House of Lords is due to debate a take note motion on the agreement on 4 March. The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Oman that was signed on December 18 last year is also likely to be operationalised in April. The FTA with New Zealand that was signed in September is likely to be operational by September this year while the 27-nation European Union too wants the FTA signed in January this year to be operational as early as possible. Goyal also said that the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Canada could also be finalised during the visit of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to India early next month. The first round of negotiations between India and Israel on their Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will happen in New Delhi from February 23. The Terms of Reference for the agreement was signed in November last year. As the negotiators will engage, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on an official visit to Israel next week.