New Delhi should know Washington's tactics

The punitive bingo-number tariffs the White House has imposed on Chinese goods in response to China's unwavering stance on defending its interests and resisting unilateral bullying underscore the high stakes involved in the current global trade landscape.

Against the backdrop of the Donald Trump administration's escalating tariff extortion and the strain it has put on the US' economic partnerships, US Vice-President JD Vance's ongoing visit to India is a telling move.

It highlights how, amid the shifting sands of global geopolitics, the US is trying to leverage the tariff negotiations it is precipitating to pressure trading partners to limit their dealings with China.

Recent months have witnessed significant progress in China-India relations, triggering concerns in Washington about the evolving dynamics between the two Asian giants. As the US seeks to negotiate "new rules" of engagement with India to ensure continued cooperation in its broader China strategy, Vance's visit is part of its unfolding regional power play as the US administration strives to isolate China's economy through trade agreements.

But it would be naive for India to believe that it will be able to appease the US or expect significant benefits from submitting to its economic bullying. Despite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi being one of the first world leaders to meet Trump after he took office for the second time, and India promising it is open to reducing tariffs on more than half of its imports from the US, the US president still refers to New Delhi as a "tariff king" and "big abuser" of trade.

At the same time, India's internal dynamics add another layer of complexity to the situation. While striving to strike a deal with the US, domestic concerns, such as protests from farmers' unions and challenges related to visa policies, highlight the intricate balancing act faced by Indian policymakers. Not to mention that in trying to get what they can from the US at the smallest cost, they have to take into account India's engagement with China.

China has censured the US' hegemonic tariff policy and unilateral bullying being conducted under the guise of "reciprocity", emphasizing the importance of fairness, justice and adherence to international trade rules.

Recent high-level meetings between Chinese and Indian leaders have laid the groundwork for enhanced cooperation and mutual understanding, emphasizing the shared responsibility of the two largest developing countries to support each other's development. China emerged as India's largest trading partner in the fiscal year 2023-24, with their two-way commerce totaling $118.4 billion. Now that a consensus has been reached that China and India are a development opportunity for each other rather than a threat, there is huge economic potential for the two countries to tap.

That the two neighbors, each with a 1.4-billion-strong population, have the world's largest consumer markets, and their trade structure is highly complementary, makes them natural cooperation partners. And the prospects for a strengthened China-India partnership have never been better, especially after the two governments reached an agreement in October last year on military disengagement along their disputed border, ending a deadly stand-off between their troops that started in June 2020 and led to India unilaterally restricting Chinese imports and investments.

Given that international trade is a key driver of global development, and China and India are both embarking on a path of modernization with development being their common goal, it is their shared responsibility to stick to multilateralism and push ahead with a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization that benefits both countries, the Global South, and the rest of the world.

As China and India mark the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relations this year, the path forward presents both opportunities and challenges. China's vigilance regarding the interactions between India and the US underscores the strategic importance of the region and the intricate networks of relationships that characterize the regional power dynamics and strategic alignments. The Quad, comprising the US, India, Japan, and Australia, has emerged as a counterweight to China's growing influence, and it is expected that Vance will try to persuade or coerce New Delhi to make a greater commitment to the grouping.

New Delhi should bear in mind the critical importance of maintaining a cooperative partnership and diplomatic engagement with its neighbor in the face of the US' pressure tactics and its own desire to profit from the US' attempt to force the decoupling of China from the global economy. It should remember that the evolving dynamics in the region will continue to shape the region's development environment. It is in the shared interests of both countries, and the region as a whole, for China and India to uphold international norms, oppose hegemonism and foster stable development in the region.