Why it is in the news
On 14 September 2026, India and MERCOSUR signed the First Additional Protocol to the India–MERCOSUR Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), giving electronic Certificates of Origin the same legal validity as paper ones. On the same day, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Uruguay's Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin, representing MERCOSUR's rotating presidency, launched negotiations to expand the PTA.
The exam angle
Issue: why has a 17-year-old trade pact with a 280-million-strong bloc delivered so little, and what will make its expansion work?