Daily News - Tuesday, 11 November 2025
India and Australia hold discussions to elevate bilateral trade and economic partnerships (Business Standard)
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s visit to Melbourne on November 8, 2025, focused on strengthening the India-Australia Economic Partnership through advancing negotiations for a balanced and ambitious Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement. His meetings with Australian ministers Don Farrell and Andrew Giles reviewed progress on CECA and explored ways to expand collaboration in trade, investment, services, and skills development. Bilateral merchandise trade between the two nations reached USD 24.1 billion in FY 2024-25, supported by India’s robust export growth of 14 percent in 2023-24 and an additional 8 percent in 2024-25, reflecting deepening economic engagement.
US challenges India on copper duty at WTO (Financial Express)
The United States has rejected India’s notification to the World Trade Organisation reserving the right to impose reciprocal duties in response to Washington’s 50 percent tariff on copper products, saying that India’s move has no legal basis under WTO safeguard rules since the US duties were imposed under national security laws, not the Trade Act of 1974. India, which had informed the WTO that the safeguard measures affect over $182 million of its copper exports to the US, argued that it has the right to suspend concessions of an equivalent value and may adjust the products and tariffs after thirty days from its October 30 notice. This dispute, which follows similar Indian challenges against US tariffs on steel, aluminium, and auto products, has now entered the consultation stage at the WTO where the two sides must attempt to resolve the issue within 60 days before a dispute panel can be established.
Trade talk on table as EAM Jaishankar visits Canada (The Economic Times)
External affairs minister S Jaishankar’s visit to Canada for the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting marks the first high-level engagement since both nations restored their high commissioners in August, signaling a possible thaw in strained relations. During the two-day visit, India aims to revive stalled talks on a bilateral trade pact and deepen cooperation in technology, energy, and critical minerals while engaging with G7 and invited country counterparts. The trip builds on Canadian foreign minister Anita Anand’s visit to India last month, where both sides agreed to restart ministerial-level discussions on trade and investment at the earliest opportunity.
India's unemployment rate eases to 5.2% in September quarter, women's employment rises (The Economic Times)
India’s unemployment rate declined to 5.2 percent in the July-September quarter from 5.4 percent previously, mainly due to higher rural employment during the farming season and a continued rise in female workforce participation, according to the government’s Periodic Labour Force Survey. Rural unemployment dropped to 4.4 percent even as urban unemployment edged up slightly to 6.9 percent, while the overall labour force participation rate and worker population ratio both showed marginal gains driven by increased female involvement in the rural economy. The data also indicated a rise in self-employment in rural areas to 62.8 percent and modest growth in regular salaried jobs in urban regions, with agriculture and the tertiary sector remaining key employment sources for rural and urban workers respectively.
