India's Trade Awakening: Shifting Tides with China

Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal criticizes India’s trade history with China post-2004, highlighting a significant trade deficit growth under Congress. Goyal emphasizes India's current stance against China's trade practices and stresses the importance of quality control to secure India's economic future.

Piyush Goyal, India's Union Commerce and Industry Minister, has criticized the trade policies with China, outlining a major shift that began post-2004. He highlighted that by 2014, under the Congress-led UPA government, India's trade deficit with China leaped from USD 2 billion to USD 40 billion.

Reflecting on past actions, Goyal noted that the global community, including India, made a significant error in the 1990s by recognizing China as a market economy, admitting it into the WTO. This decision is now challenged by international powers, including the U.S., for predatory trade practices.

The minister stressed the importance of rigorous quality controls to rebuild the economy and reduce dependency on low-quality imports, citing an increase in quality control measures from 106 orders in 2014 to 700 in 2024. Goyal insists that to achieve developed nation status, India must prioritize quality in trade.

(With inputs from agencies.)