Global shipping and commodity markets face major strain as military escalations in the Strait of Hormuz led shipping lines to halt Persian Gulf cargo bookings and deploy “dark transits” (disabling automatic identification systems) to navigate dangerous waters, directly threatening critical imports of LPG, LNG, and crude oil for India. At the multilateral level, India formally challenged the World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General and Secretariat regarding the legal authority, deployment of administrative resources, and interim arrangements used to facilitate a plurilateral e-commerce agreement that failed to achieve required full-membership consensus. Simultaneously, the Indian government extended customs duty exemptions on critical components for wireless charging, display assemblies, and an expanded list of 85 capital goods for lithium-ion cell manufacturing to insulate local manufacturers from elevated global shipping costs and geopolitical supply chain bottlenecks. Lastly, trade analysts stress that while newly celebrated FTAs with the EU, UK, and Japan offer incremental gains, India’s strategic focus must center on securing a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement with the United States, its largest goods surplus partner at $42 billion annually, to optimize market access for knowledge-intensive manufacturing, IT services, and professional mobility.