"India's Heart With US": Minister On Staying Out Of China-Led Trade Bloc

At a session with Chinese and US trade ministers, Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said India did not join China-led RCEP as its trade deficit would have widened and New Delhi's "heart" is with Washington, hinting at a trade surplus with the US.

The Commerce and Industry Minister's remarks came at the B20 summit in the national capital while moderating the 'Trade Ministers' Session' where Wang Shouwen, Vice Minister in the Ministry of Commerce of China, and US Trade Representative Catherine Tie were present.

Piyush Goyal asked Wang Shouwen if Beijing regretted India chose not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

To this, Wang Shouwen said China and India's trade relationship has been growing very fast and last year, the bilateral trade reached $130 billion.

"If there had been an FTA agreement between China and India, either bilaterally or in the RCEP context, the trade potential (that) exists between our two countries would be much further tapped into the benefit of our two peoples. So, it is your decision to decide whether you will join the RCEP but the RCEP's doors will be always open for India," Wang Shouwen said.

Responding to the comment, Mr Goyal said the bilateral trade would have gone up, but so would have the trade deficit.

"We are already concerned that the bilateral trade even though $130 billion is largely skewed in favour of China. The Indian industry feels that if you had entered into this agreement with the RCEP this trade would have suddenly increased, but it would only have increased the trade deficit further..." 

Mr Goyal also wondered how China does the costing and pricing of goods it exports.

"...it's a matter that I think all the ministers would like to know how you can supply goods at less than the raw material costs," Goyal asked.

In reply, Wang Shouwen congratulated Mr Goyal for being a very successful trade minister for India.

"...even though you are not able to balance your trade with each and every ... trading partner, you have been very successful in maintaining a global trade balance overall for the country.

"So it is natural that you will have trade deficits with countries like China, but you will also have a trade surplus with other countries. It is very good that you are able to maintain your trade balance globally," he added.

With the US, India enjoyed a trade surplus of about $28 billion during 2022-23, while there was a deficit of about $83 billion with China, as per the commerce ministry data.

Making India's stance clear in a lighter vein, Mr Goyal recalled an incident in the Rajya Sabha when the leader of the opposition (Mallikarjun Kharge) complained that the Chairman always looked to the treasury benches to his right-hand side and not towards the opposition parties sitting on the left.

"The Chairman had retorted that his heart was on the left-hand side. So my heart here is with (USTR) Catherine Tie from the United States of America (who was sitting on Goyal's left side)," the Indian trade minister said amid applause from the audience, largely comprising domestic and global business leaders.

Piyush Goyal also applauded the USTR's leadership in bilaterally resolving six out of seven disputes at WTO between India.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)