'Chinese dumping could wipe out our industry, we have to be wary'

As the trade war triggered by the US has changed the global landscape of cross-border transactions in goods, India will do well to adopt a three-pronged strategy, Arvind Virmani, member, Niti Aayog told Prasanta Sahu in an interview.

- Arvind Virmani, Member, NITI AAYOG

The noted economist, who was chief economic adviser, feels free trade agreements (FTAs) with the developed countries such as the US, the EU and the UK ought to be concluded in FY26 itself.

He, however, advocates protective tariff regime vis-à-vis China to check dumping by the neighbour. For the rest of the world, the tariff regime could be defined (on a most favoured nation basis).

If the US-China tariff war persists, what will be its impact on India?

The US has paused the reciprocal tariff for 90 days, except for China. The US would be looking for alternative sources of supply, which could be India or Latin America or any other country.

The advantage that we have is that we already produce 75% of the goods which the US imports from China.

These products may not be exactly the same, or may be more expensive than China's, but we still produce many of these things. So, in the short term, the US may realise that some of these things can just be imported

SUPPLY CHAINS ISSUE IS MORE URGENT. SO PHASE A OF THE BTA WITH US IS BETTER DONE ON COMMODITIES GIVEN THE RECIPROCAL TARIFF ISSUES. (AGREEMENT ON) SERVICES IS IMPORTANT, BUT MIGHT TAKE A LITTLE TIME