India seeks safeguards in China-led trade pact

India seeks safeguards in China-led trade pact

India wants safeguards to be built into a China-led trade pact to prevent a sudden surge in imports, the Indian trade ministry said on Wednesday.

Negotiators for the 16-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) are in Bangkok this week for talks aimed at finalizing the giant free trade zone by the end of the year.

Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has been holding talks to ease fears of Chinese imports flooding in if New Delhi joined the agreement.

“The focus and emphasis of the meetings chaired by the Commerce and Industry Minister was on putting in place appropriate safeguards including auto-trigger mechanism against a sudden surge in imports from RCEP countries,” the ministry said in a statement.

It also said that key areas that were not settled in the proposed pact are e-commerce, rules of origin, and trade remedies.