Have Signed Up Free Trade...': Sanjeev Sanyal Speaks On India-U.S. Trade Talks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ7ISaKKqMY
India has already made free trade deals with countries like the UAE and the UK. He also said that the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) shouldn’t bring back old systems that no longer work.
Youtubetranscript (under edit)
India and US are progressing towards a trade deal ahead of the July 9 deadline.
Sanjiv Sanal well I'm not in a position to comment on the details of the deal but let me say that whenever the announcement gets done it is very important to realize the context in which all of these trade deals are being negotiated. (tariff-danda?Ed)
the old uh WTO based rule-based order has by and large now dissolved!
generalized uh rule-based order is now being replaced with a network a web of bilateral relationships.
two heavy weights in the system sort of two centers of gravity one of them will be China and the other will be the US. (bi-polar disorder? - Ed) we are therefore very well aligned into uh you know the alternative uh sort
of system so as you may have seen that
we have signed up to a free trade
agreement with countries like the UAE
Australia UK we are in advanced
discussion with the European Union and
of course we are just discussing what
will happen with the US so we are
becoming a part of that network with
this this uh these sets of uh bilateral
deals this doesn't mean that we will not
trade with China we will trade with
China too but um this is now going to
work through these uh bilateral uh
network of bilateral relationships so
you've always argued that the WTO is
actually a 20th century institution
that's out of touch with the realities
of modern trade so when you actually
hear from the EU saying that it's time
to redesign the WTO do you then see this
as a genuine momentum for reform or more
rhetoric from the same old multilateral
playbook
no so what they are saying is uh not
different from what we I mean eventually
a network of bilateral relationships is
not efficient what you would in an ideal
world have is a set of rules and
everybody listens to that rules and
trades based on that and that worked in
the 20th century unfortunately this uh
uh set of rules and the institutional
arrangements for that and just not the
WTO the wider arrangements of all kinds
everything from the security council um
to WH need we need to have a discussion
about it because um first of all we need
to have a discussion about whose rules
now many of these rules were set up in
the middle of the 20th century in the
aftermath of the uh second world war and
they were set up in a particular way
India
did participate in it but we were not
really rule makers we were rule takers
so now the world has changed and I think
it's not unfair that our voice is heard
in a in a more uh um
in a more uh uh sort of prominent way
but I would argue that you know there
there is not merely about resurrecting
the old with you know a few thing people
like China and India with a louder voice
there are certain things we need to
think about for example how do we uh
think about regulating artificial
intelligence which will be which will
simply you know go over everybody's
borders um and things like that so we
have to think about the new arrangement
but it it cannot be simple
re-resurrection of the old one it'll
have to take into account the new
realities that exist on the planet right
now sure so probably new realities is is
one thing but what in your view is the
single biggest structural flaw in the
current you know framework of the WTO
that makes it unfit for purpose today
well as I said um you know whose voices
were reflected when those WTO
arrangements were made uh secondly um
there's not only about rule making and
whose rules they are uh there is also
the issue about um how you enforce those
rules and who listens to them i mean we
have had many problems and complaints
about how uh China for example simply
runs run shruffsh over many of these
they may follow some things uh sometimes
uh they may even follow it by in terms
of the
practice of the law but not necessarily
in the spirit of the law so there has to
be some issues there but by the way let
me not let off the hook uh the European
Union itself with its efforts to impose
things like CBAN which um I have stated
before
is a unilateral imposition of non-tariff
barriers in the name of environmental
social or governance norms but then they
never discuss what those norms are but
unilaterally apply it so you know that's
not going by the spirit of WTO either
all right so in that case if if the EU
is actually serious about this and given
what you just said what should it do
differently from the DHA round to avoid
another stalemate then first of all we
need to have a frank and open discussion
about what are the issues uh as I said
you cannot have a situation where uh one
party either flouts the law the spirit
of the rules or simply unilaterally
imposes non-tariff barriers as in the
case of the CBAM um and so on so you
know this is only going to work if two
things happen one is that um the rules
are set to the realities of today
two that at least the major uh trading
uh entities and countries uh follow the
spirit of the those whatever those new
new rules and arrangements are
all right and what what would you say
then should India's stance be on
tightening subsidy rules and how does it
then balance the need for say domestic
industrial policy with global trade
commitments so industrial policy has now
come back um in in the way things used
to work in the late 20th century and
into in fact the beginning of this
century was that we only thought about
um uh short-term efficiency whereas uh
there are other issues as well for
example resilience something we saw
during the covid uh period this is not
only about you know um geostrategic but
there can be all kinds of of the
disruptions there can be pandemics there
can be um
you know there can be a tsunami there
can be all kinds of reasons why we may
want to have more diversified more
resilient supply chains than uh you know
short-term optimization which is one of
the things that the old arrangement used
to encourage um so now that does require
us to think about these in different
ways similarly uh if you're thinking of
resilience for example it's not just
about goods and supply chains of goods
for we have to think about you know
regulating artificial intelligence for
example now whose rules and regulations
do we follow um what happens if there is
a major breakdown uh as you will find
that these are likely to go cross border
we re about a year ago a single code a
single line of code uh in uh something
some update that the Microsoft was make
went wrong and you saw from everything
from ATMs to airports and all kinds of
people got disrupted now if that is
going to be happen with artificial
intelligence which is much more fluid
then imagine what kinds of disruptions
will happen so we need to begin to have
certain rules of the game but those
rules of the game have to reflect
today's world uh not the 20th century
reality secondly we need to make sure
that everybody follows those rules in
the spirit of it talking about the rules
of games I'm going to shift focus a
little bit and still talking about India
and protecting its interests with
regards to what's happening with the US
the US is seeking duty cuts on electric
vehicles wine farm goods while India
wants relief for textiles gems leather
and more what would you say which
sectors are proving most contentious and
are there any absolute red lines for
India in these ongoing negotiations
as I said these this is currently under
negotiations so I'm not in a position to
comment but yes I mean every country has
its own red lines it has its own
interests uh that's why negotiations
happen so nothing very um new about that
some of some of these are old issues
like agriculture related issues there
are some more new issues but I think um
both sides are keen on getting a good
equitable deal which works for both uh
both parties all right and you know
given your comments about the world
dividing into into US and China oriented
supply chains how would you say this FDA
positions India strategically and what
are the risks if negotiations falter or
if the US imposes new tariffs
see as I said uh you know while
negotiations are going on positions will
happen but let's be very clear that uh
uh when we have this new system of
bilateral relationships it's important
that we negotiate each one of them with
our eyes open obviously both sides will
have it both sides will have their own
interests and uh we will you know so we
will have to negotiate those interests
and trade or make trade-offs um but uh I
I think it's fair to say that both India
and the US understand uh that these are
important relationships uh that we need
to um sign up for so I think both
parties understand the importance of
this