Import tariffs are not an economic consideration for the government of India anyway, with data from Budget 2025-26 showing that customs duty isn’t a key revenue source.
While tax has proved Nirmala Sitharaman’s strong suit, there have been policy negatives as well, including under-performance on privatisation and failure to fix banking mess.
Swadeshi has found a new wind in Indian politics as a form of popular resistance to China. But raising barriers to Chinese imports only affects those lower down the income pyramid.
Share of Indian export to Asian countries has dropped in the past decade despite forging major free trade alliances but it has gone up in traditional markets like US and Europe.
To boost exports, India must accept its challenge is internal, even though it keeps raising fingers at unfavourable external factors like trade protectionism.
The participation of middle powers in platforms such as the G20, ASEAN, AUKUS dialogues, and regional security forums positions them as brokers between competing interests.
This is the game every nation is now learning to play. Some are finding new allies or seeing value among nations where they’d seen marginal interest. The starkest example is India & Europe.
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