India sees ‘opportunity of a lifetime’ as Trump’s tariffs shake China and global trade

While Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs have unleashed fear and fury around the world, there is one major economy that sees an “opportunity of a lifetime” in the disruptions.

India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said the coming changes to global trade will not only bring fairness to supply chains, but also be advantageous for the world’s fastest-growing large economy.

The minister’s comments came on the day Asian shares posted a historic loss as Trump threatened China with additional tariffs, and continued to keep world leaders in the dark about whether they will be able to delay the levies. Volatility has surged, with US$10 trillion wiped off global equities after the US unveiled sweeping tariffs last week.

In his remarks, Goyal said the current turmoil in global economy can be traced back to China joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) almost 25 years ago. “If somebody was to ask me what would be the trigger point of where we are today and why we are going through this churn, the starting point of this actually goes to the beginning of 2000 when China was admitted as the member of the WTO,” Goyal said.

China’s growth since then had been fuelled at “the cost of fair trade,” he said. The minister’s comments appear to back Trump’s criticism of China’s trade practices and indicate New Delhi isn’t in a hurry to ease its own investment and trade restrictions on its larger neighbour, despite recent signs of a thaw in the relationship. The two nations began easing a border stand-off in recent months and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Brics summit last year, agreeing to restart direct flights.