Trade Protectionism

The Budget announcement to set up BharatTradeNet as a unified platform for trade documentation and financing solutions is an ambitious proposal and there is a plan to create a not-for-profit company to implement this project, a senior government official said on Tuesday. Proposed on the lines of Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the platform will help in moving towards complete digitisation of the entire range of trade documentation and then allow seamless operability of different agencies which are involved in this, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Saranagi told reporters here. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said in the Budget speech that this will be set up as a unified platform for trade documentation and financing solutions and it will complement the Unified Logistics Interface Platform. "So this is a highly ambitious proposal but we are ambitioning to do something which is a UIDAI kind of programme in future...Idea is to create a separate agency .

He called for mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) to facilitate trade

Think tank GTRI has criticised Donald Trump's claim that India is an "abuser" of import tariffs, noting singling out high tariff items do not present the real trade picture

The Digital Competition Bill seeks to further regulate large digital enterprises, including news aggregators, as part of efforts to ensure a fair competition in the digital spaces

The Joint Trade Committee (JTC) was established under the 1986 India-New Zealand Trade Agreement

India has strongly objected to efforts of certain countries to push a proposal on investment facilitation at the WTO, saying the agenda falls outside the mandate of the global trade body and cannot be deliberated in formal meetings. According to the statement of the Indian delegation in a meeting of the General Council of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), held during December 13-15, negotiation on investment does not belong to the WTO. "I would like to reiterate that Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD), which supposedly facilitated investment, did not pertain to multilateral trade relations. Investment per se is not trade," the statement said. It added that investment covers a wide range of assets or enterprises subject to a separate universe of obligations. "The negative mandate did not allow the Members, desirous of IFD, to pursue it in a multilateral forum upon a consensus," the statement said. It added that certain members began an informal process that did not hav

From trade to human rights, the leaders of China and the European Union differed on a wide range of issues at a summit this week in the Chinese capital. China, which sees Europe as an important export market, raised concerns about trade protectionism and de-risking, the EU initiative to reduce its reliance on any one country such as China for vital raw materials and products. The EU, which sees imports from China as a potential threat to companies and jobs, pressured China on its large trade surplus with Europe and its de facto support for Russia in the war in Ukraine. Separate post-summit news conferences on Thursday evening highlighted the divergent positions. Wang Lutong, the director general for European affairs, spoke to journalists at China's Foreign Ministry. Then EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Charles Michel held a joint news conference at the European Union office in Beijing. TRADE IMBALANCE VON DER LEYEN: If you just look at the

Regulatory and internal market barriers of China are some of the major impediments which impact India's exports to that country, economic think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said on Sunday. "India must take up all market access issues faced by its exporters with China on a priority basis. India may consider applying mirror regulations to imports from China," it said. China uses four significant barriers besides customs duties to regulate imports from countries like India and those barriers include regulatory, internal market, trade defense, and political, it said. "China stifle competitive imports from India through complex regulations," the GTRI said Quality and standards of products cannot be a problem as India exports to over 100 countries, including the US and Europe, GTRI said. Citing an example of the pharma sector, it said India imports 90 per cent of bulk drugs or APIs (active pharma ingredients) from China and allows easy access through a simple registratio

China opposes protectionism, the erection of fences and barriers, decoupling, disruption of industrial and supply chains, unilateral sanctions, and maximum-pressure tactics, President Xi Jinping said on Sunday, apparently hitting out at the US. China adheres to the right course of economic globalisation, he told the key Congress of the ruling Communist Party here. The 20th Congress in its weeklong session starting from Sunday is widely expected to endorse a record third five-year term for Xi who also heads the party and the military. China strives to promote trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation, advance bilateral, regional, and multilateral cooperation, and boost international macroeconomic policy coordination, Xi said. China opposes protectionism, the erection of fences and barriers, decoupling, disruption of industrial and supply chains, unilateral sanctions, and maximum-pressure tactics, he said. Xi said China is committed to working with other countries to fost

Why is India Inc protectionist? Why are global CEOs bullish about India? Will the spike in natural gas prices affect related stocks? What is a demat and a trading account? All answers here

As a response to a falling rupee and rising current account deficit, the govt is mulling tariff hikes on non-essential imports. But, does India Inc also favours protectionism? Let's find out

Governments across the world must rise above geopolitical tensions to re-engage on trade reforms while refraining from protectionism, a group of nearly 30 CEOs said in a joint call to action

Should the govt policy benefit a few manufacturers through protection from imports or a large number of people via easier access to cheaper devices that help reduce chances of contracting diseases?

Higher tax rates, central banks pumping out cash, protection for home industry, suppressing interest rates, high social welfare pay-outs - all hark back to pre-Thatcher-Reagan phase - notes T N Ninan

WTO's India review shows protectionism has alienated partners

For sustained growth India needs to use foreign capital and foreign know-how to produce goods that it sells in foreign markets. What's self-reliant in that?

Tinkering with rates will put off investment and hurt exports

In the Budget for 2021-22, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced higher import duty rates on over a dozen handset and automobile components.

He said the strategy for the companies is to be an active player in every market that they operate and have an articulation of partnership with that country and which reflects its priorities

Here's a selection of Business Standard opinion pieces for the day