Examine the role of critical minerals in shaping India's recent trade negotiations, with reference to the India-Chile CEPA.

Critical minerals — lithium, copper, cobalt and rare earths — have moved from being ordinary import commodities to a strategic bargaining chip in India's trade diplomacy. With the National Critical Mineral Mission (2025) targeting a resilient value chain with an outlay of about ₹16,300 crore [1], trade agreements are now being designed as instruments of resource security, best illustrated by the ongoing India-Chile CEPA.

Why critical minerals now drive negotiations

• Energy-transition dependence: EV batteries, solar modules and grid storage rest on minerals India lacks domestically, making assured overseas supply a negotiating priority.
• Supply-chain de-risking: concentration of processing in a few countries pushes India toward diversified, treaty-backed sourcing.
• From tariffs to chapters: minerals now appear as a dedicated chapter alongside goods, services, digital trade and investment — the India-Chile CEPA Terms of Reference explicitly list critical minerals and MSMEs [2].

The India-Chile CEPA as illustration

• Upgrade logic: the limited 2006 PTA (expanded 2017) covered only select tariff lines; the Joint Study Group recommended a comprehensive upgrade, with ToR signed on 8 May 2025 [2].
• Structured progress: the first round concluded in New Delhi in May 2025 [3], with the fourth round completed by December 2025 and a target of concluding within 2026 [4].
• Trade asymmetry: India's imports from Chile (~$5 billion in 2025-26) far exceed exports (~$1.2 billion), the surge driven largely by copper and lithium [4] — a deficit India seeks to balance through market access for pharmaceuticals, autos and services.
• Global South framing: the partnership is positioned as South-South cooperation, extending India's Latin American outreach.

Critical minerals have thus reoriented India's trade negotiations from tariff bargaining toward long-term resource and value-chain security. Concluding a balanced India-Chile CEPA — pairing assured mineral supply with reciprocal access for Indian goods and services, and with joint processing investment — would advance both Atmanirbhar Bharat in clean energy and India's credibility as a Global South partner.