This Is No Time for India to Turn Away From Trade
As other Asian nations move forward with a big new free-trade pact, the country is unwise to look inward.
Imports are not evil.
Photographer: Sanjit Das/Bloomberg
After almost a decade of “negotiating with blood, sweat and tears,” as Malaysia’s trade minister put it, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership was signed this weekend at the conclusion of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. Fifteen countries — all of ASEAN, alongside Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and China — will be part of this giant trading bloc. Sixteen countries were due to join, of course, until India withdrew from negotiations.
The Indian government had at least one good reason for staying out of RCEP. New Delhi’s consistent geo-economic goal has been to prevent Asian supply chains from growing more China-centric than they already are. To the extent that RCEP will reinforce China’s central position in the web of intra-Asian trade, and membership would have signaled India’s willingness to join a new Beijing-led economic order, Indian doubts about the agreement were justified.