Roving Periscope: As Trump’s “Liberation Day” looms, China says ready to buy more Indian goods
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: A day before US President Donald Trump kicks off the “Liberation Day,” by imposing reciprocal tariffs on multiple countries, China has said it is ready to buy more Indian goods, the media reported on Wednesday.
“We are willing to work with the Indian side to strengthen practical cooperation in trade and other areas, and to import more Indian products that are well-suited to the Chinese market,” Beijing’s Ambassador to New Delhi Xu Feihong told China’s mouthpiece, the Global Times, in an interview published on Monday.
As Trump’s tariffs threaten to upend the global trade system, China has offered to import more Indian products and strengthen trade cooperation.
Xu asked Indian enterprises to share “dividends of China’s development” by seeking trade opportunities in the neighbouring country.
“We also welcome more Indian enterprises to cross the Himalayas and seek opportunities for cooperation in China, sharing the dividends of China’s development,” he said.
China hopes India will create a fair and transparent business climate for Chinese companies and further expand their mutually beneficial cooperation, he said.
His comments came a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Indian counterpart Droupadi Murmu that China and India should work more closely together. The remark was part of the Chinese leader’s congratulatory messages to mark the 75th anniversary of the start of their diplomatic ties.
India and China have been taking steps to rebuild their ties after a 2020 border clash in Ladakh on their Himalayan frontier soured relations. India has not yet lifted the restrictions on Chinese investments in the country.
In January, the two sides said they would resume direct flights, after they reached an agreement in October regarding patrolling their Himalayan border, but are yet to do so.
US President Trump is set to unveil sweeping new “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday, but kept the world guessing until the last minute about the scope of the onslaught. He will roll out the measures flanked by his Cabinet members in the Rose Garden of the White House at 4:00 pm (2000 GMT)—after the Wall Street markets close—promising that they will stop America from being “ripped off” and will deliver a new “golden age” of US industry.
India is one of the few nations working to lower tariffs in an effort to soften Trump, who has called New Delhi a “tariff king” and “tariff abuser” and has vowed to reciprocate. Both countries have started talks towards clinching an early trade deal and resolving their standoff on tariffs.
