India has formally started negotiations on a preferential trade agreement with the Southern African Customs Union, the bloc that includes Eswatini, Botswana, Lesotho and Namibia, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal announced on Monday, October 27.
Speaking after a six-day visit to Germany and the Netherlands, Goyal said the two sides signed terms of reference in August to begin the process, according to Economic Times. For Eswatini, the talks open a path into one of the world's largest markets on terms that respect national sovereignty rather than dissolve it.
What the India-SACU negotiations cover
The Southern African Customs Union is led by South Africa and groups five members: South Africa itself, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia. Negotiations with the grouping have started, Goyal confirmed, following the signing of the terms of reference in August.
A preferential trade agreement lowers tariffs on selected goods between the parties. It is a measured instrument. It does not surrender the customs union that Eswatini shares with its neighbours, nor does it commit the Kingdom to any wider political arrangement. It simply grants Indian and SACU producers preferential access to each other's markets, on a reciprocal basis.
That reciprocity is the principle Goyal stressed throughout his remarks. India, he said, is looking to open markets in different countries on the same terms it offers in return.
India's wider trade agenda
The SACU talks form one part of a broad negotiating programme. Goyal said India has concluded most of the discussions for a proposed bilateral trade pact with the United States and is now fine-tuning the agreement. In that pact, India expects preferential access and a comparative advantage over other countries, Livemint reported.
Talks with Chile are, in his words, quite ripe for conclusion. Negotiations with Canada are making good progress. Mexico, he added, is very keen on an early harvest trade agreement, and Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal is in Mexico City for a two-day visit to advance those ties.
Goyal also expressed hope that the continuity of Brazil's government after its election would speed up negotiations to expand the Preferential Trade Agreement with the Mercosur bloc, which comprises Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay. Talks with the Gulf Cooperation Council and Israel, by contrast, remain slow for what he called obvious reasons, given the crisis in West Asia.
India's cautious reopening to China
The most consequential of Goyal's statements concerned China. He said India will emerge as a major exporter of goods and services to China and the ASEAN region in the years to come, Deccan Chronicle reported.
The numbers explain why the relationship matters and why caution is warranted. China is India's second-largest trading partner. Bilateral trade rose 7.9 percent year on year in 2025-26 to $127.7 billion, while India's trade deficit widened to $99.19 billion from $85 billion a year earlier.
Goyal acknowledged that China supplies India with important intermediate goods and raw materials, while insisting that fair play must be enforced. If pricing in any particular product is found improper, he said, an established judicial process is conducted. Asked whether India would pursue a formal trade exercise with China after concluding talks with the European Union, he answered: