India’s Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal highlighted China’s unfair trade practices, hidden subsidies, and distorted labour models as the reasons for its economic rise in the last three decades and that led to huge global trade imbalances.
“This growth was fuelled by unfair trade practices. This growth happened at the cost of fair play,” Goyal told the India Global Forum in Mumbai on Monday. “Its foundation lay in actions which, by the rules of the game, would be considered improper.”

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China’s ascent has come “at the cost of national economies and the manufacturing ecosystem” in many countries—including India, he said. 
“The current trade standoff, he argued, is not a flashpoint but the result of years of myopia by the international community,” Goyal added. 
“The current state of play, in some way, is a culmination of almost three decades of this attack on several economies,” he said. 

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Goyal accused global leaders of being overly optimistic about China’s intentions, believing it would liberalise, improve transparency and adopt fairer trade principles, but instead, China used predatory pricing, opaque subsidy structures, and labour norms that tilted the playing field. 

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‘India Inc. should be nationalistic, alert govt about dumping of goods’

Goyal exhorted Indian firms to be nationalistic in spirit by supporting domestic supply chains, collaborating across sectors, and aligning with national priorities.

India had risen to global challenges during the Y2K IT transition and the Covid-19 pandemic, and can turn this phase also into an opportunity, he said. 

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He also urged industry to alert the government when they witness dumping of foreign goods in their sectors, especially from China. The steel industry has already submitted representations, which are being evaluated, he added.

‘Trade deficit with China soared in UPA rule’

Goyal went on to blame the previous UPA government, claiming that the trade deficit with China soared during its tenure.
“When Atal Bihari Vajpayee laid down office in 2004, the India-China trade deficit was at a certain level. In the 10 years of the UPA government, that trade deficit soared by 25 times,” he said.
He also accused Rahul Gandhi of signing a controversial MoU with the Communist Party of China, which he implied was followed by tariff reductions that allowed massive Chinese dumping into Indian markets.

“This killed many of our local manufacturing sectors and made us dependent on China. The country is still suffering from those 10 years of mismanagement of the economy,” he said. 

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About the ongoing tariff mayhem, Goyal said, “Our applied tariff to the United States is probably seven or eight per cent. It’s not humongous.”

He emphasised India will pursue bilateral trade pacts with nations that respect fair, rules-based systems. 
Goyal refused to disclose the status of talks with Washington but said that India’s economy is resilient, with limited dependence on exports. The rupee remains stable, and Indian equities were among the least affected by Trump’s tariff blitz, he added.

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“Indian equities are fortunate to be at the bottom of the table of markets impacted by Trump’s disruptive policies,” he said.

‘It’s not de-globalisation, but re-globalisation’

On fears of de-globalisation, Goyal said the world is not fragmenting but reorienting around fairer trade principles and building systems where no player gains by cheating.
“We are not in an era of de-globalisation, but one of re-globalisation,” he said.