India must be involved with China on equal conditions: GTRI

New -Delhi, April 21 (PTI) India, must link to China and the US on equal conditions, and the involvement must be guided by its strategic autonomy, economic importance and global trade principles, not by external pressure, the thinking tank GTri said on Monday. These remarks came in the background of China’s warning that it would take countermeasures in a ‘determined and reciprocal’ way against countries that would stop trade with America at the expense of Chinese interests. Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said that China’s warning of retaliation against countries corresponding to US efforts to isolate Beijing should be considered by the lens of global supply chain realities. Leading economies, including the US, EU, Japan, South Korea and India, are deeply dependent on China for the supply of industrial and consumer goods, and said China is embedded at every level of the global production hierarchy -completed goods, intermediate products and parts and components. To completely replace China, it is necessary to build the manufacturing capacity of the raw materials upwards an effort that has not yet reached a country on scale. The thinking tank said that India should map an independent course, strengthen its domestic manufacturing base and reduce critical import dependence through purposeful investment in deep manufacturing. At the same time, said, India must remain determined to the WTO-led multilateral trading norms and avoid actions that are at risk of violating world rules. “India should not be withdrawn into binary geopolitical rivalry. Instead, it should be dealt with on equal conditions with both China and the US, led by strategic autonomy, economic importance and global trade principles not by external pressure,” said Ajay Srivastava, founder of GTRI. The US remained the largest trading partner in India for the fourth consecutive year in 2024-25 with bilateral trade worth 131.84 billion, while the country’s trade deficit with China expanded to USD $ 99.2 billion in the same period, the government’s data showed. In the last fiscal, the exports of India to China contracted 14.5 percent to USD 14.25 billion against USD 16.66 billion in 2023-24. However, imports increased by 11.52 percent in 2024-25 to $ 113.45 billion compared to USD 101.73 billion in 2023-24. China is still the second largest trading partner of India with USD 127.7 billion two-way trade in 2024-25 compared to $ 118.4 billion in 2023-24. India negotiates on a bilateral trade agreement with the US with a view to promoting bilateral trade up to $ 500 billion by 2030. First published: 21 Apr 2025, 04:31 IST IST IST IST IST IST IST IST IST IST IST IST