In The Media ⁽⁴⁰⁰⁾

Read full article Abstract: The multilateral trade regime which saw trade flourish for seventy years following the Second World War faces an existential threat today. A trade war has broken out between the two largest economies, the United States and China. From being the principal architect of the system, the US has come to view itself a victim of it. Therefore, in the medium run, we are likely to be left with regional trade agreements as the only game in town. This fact makes a successful conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement among its sixteen partner countries critically important. For reasons I explain below, India has much to gain from the agreement. India is often criticised, even vilified, for its tough stance in trade negotiations. But all major nations with bargaining power negotiate hard to maximise access for their exports in return for the access they give to imports in their markets. The criticisms must therefore be heavily discounted.

Read full article Abstract: A trade war is now in progress on two fronts. The United States opened the first front by imposing a 25% tariff on steel imports and 10% tariff on aluminium imports from a large number of its trading partners. That led many damaged parties to take retaliatory actions. China was the first to respond with a 25% tariff on $3 billion worth of food imports from the US. Mexico, Turkey, European Union and Canada followed suit once it became apparent that the US would not grant them the exemption from tariff they had sought. On the second front, the US has exclusively targeted China by slapping 25% tariff on a wide variety of imports worth $34 billion from it. China hit back in this instance as well, imposing 25% tariff on $34 billion worth of imports from the US. The US has threatened China with 25% tariff on another $200 billion worth of imports. China has said it will respond in kind. Imposition of tariffs by members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is not unusual.

From being the architect of the open world trading system in the post-Second World War era, today the United States has descended into a state in which it feels it is a victim of that same system.Read full article A trade war is now in progress on two fronts. The United States opened the first front by imposing a 25% tariff on steel imports and 10% tariff on aluminium imports from a large number of its trading partners. That led many damaged parties to take retaliatory actions. China was the first to respond with a 25% tariff on $3 billion worth of food imports from the US. Mexico, Turkey, European Union and Canada followed suit once it became apparent that the US would not grant them the exemption from tariff they had sought. On the second front, the US has exclusively targeted China by slapping 25% tariff on a wide variety of imports worth $34 billion from it. China hit back in this instance as well, imposing 25% tariff on $34 billion worth of imports from the US. The US has…

India is on course to being the third largest economy in the world. But fulfilling this promise will require sustained reform and a commitment to openness. Read full article In his all-time classic, Protection or Free Trade, published in 1886, American political economist Henry George provides one of the wittiest and most persuasive defences of free trade. At the time he wrote, the world was in the midst of the First Globalisation. Liberal trade policies had swept across the globe. Yet, his own country remained staunchly protectionist. Unsurprisingly, his axe fell on every conceivable argument protectionists of his day offered. In the book, George observes that protection implies prevention and defence. In this vein, protective tariffs prevent foreign goods from flowing into our country. Unlike a flood, earthquake or tornado, which are acts of nature, flow of goods is the result of human action. He asks, who are the people whose actions lead to this flow of goods? Foreign sellers may well be the answer. George reasons, however, that this is erroneous because those sellers could not sell their products…