{"id":266003,"date":"2023-10-23T19:18:24","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T13:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=266003"},"modified":"2023-10-23T19:18:24","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T13:48:24","slug":"trade-potential-india-should-reconsider-its-rcep-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/trade-potential-india-should-reconsider-its-rcep-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"Trade potential \u2014 India should reconsider its RCEP decision"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source: <\/strong>This post has been created based on the article \u201cTrade potential \u2014 India should reconsider its RCEP decision\u201d<\/strong> published in Business Standard <\/strong>on 23rd<\/sup> October 2023.<\/strong><\/p>\n

UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 2 International Relations – Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and\/or affecting India\u2019s interests.<\/strong><\/p>\n

News<\/strong>:\u00a0This article discusses the need for India to reconsider its position on the RCEP considering the recent developments.<\/p>\n

What is the RCEP?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

RCEP<\/strong>\u00a0is a trade deal that created one of the world\u2019s largest trading blocs.<\/p>\n

Its members include:<\/strong><\/p>\n

10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.<\/p>\n

5 other FTA partner countries of ASEAN: Australia, China, Korea, Japan, and New Zealand.<\/p>\n

RCEP members account for about 30% of the global GDP and 1\/3rd<\/sup> of the world\u2019s population.<\/p>\n

What are the ongoing developments with respect to RCEP?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Slower economic growth<\/strong> and increasing geopolitical fragmentation<\/strong> has led to slowdown of global trade.<\/p>\n

In light of this, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are considering joining the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).<\/p>\n

For Sri Lanka<\/strong>, which is dealing with an economic crisis, easier access to regional markets could help it become more competitive.<\/p>\n

For Bangladesh<\/strong>, RCEP could help compensate for export loss as it exits from the group of least developed countries.<\/p>\n

Their joining the RCEP will also open markets for China in India\u2019s neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

What has been India\u2019s position regarding the RCEP?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

India exited the RCEP 4 years ago<\/strong> due to various concerns. These include:<\/p>\n

1) Potential increase in the import of cheaper goods<\/strong> from member countries, particularly China.<\/p>\n

2) Geopolitical and national-security considerations: <\/strong>Especially with respect to China.<\/p>\n

3) Lack of safeguards<\/strong>:<\/strong> India had cited the grouping\u2019s refusal to accede to its requests on safeguards as a deal breaker.<\/p>\n

What is India doing to counter the impact of not joining the RCEP? <\/strong><\/h2>\n

India has been working with a different strategy of higher tariffs<\/strong>, along with fiscal incentives for large manufacturers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Additionally, India is working on various free-trade agreements (FTA)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Why should India reconsider its position?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1) Countries such as Australia and Japan<\/strong> have joined RCEP despite ongoing geopolitical tensions<\/strong> with China.<\/p>\n

2) Lost opportunity<\/strong> to become part of the world\u2019s largest and most dynamic trading bloc<\/strong>, which has the potential to enhance transnational economic integration.<\/p>\n

3) India\u2019s trade deficit with China<\/strong> has been increasing significantly despite India not joining.<\/p>\n

4) It would give India the opportunity to deal with trade-related issues more effectively, besides opening markets of member countries<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

5) Opportunity to become part of large global value chains:<\/strong> This will improve participation in global trade, which is critical in boosting local manufacturing<\/strong> and generating employment<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

6) Limited gains through FTAs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Question for practice:<\/strong><\/p>\n

India needs to rethink its stand on multilateral trade agreements like the RCEP considering the recent geopolitical and economic developments. Discuss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: This post has been created based on the article \u201cTrade potential \u2014 India should reconsider its RCEP decision\u201d published in Business Standard on 23rd October 2023. UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 2 International Relations – Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and\/or affecting India\u2019s interests. News:\u00a0This article discusses the need for… Continue reading Trade potential \u2014 India should reconsider its RCEP decision<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[10503,212,239],"class_list":["post-266003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-business-standard","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-international-relations","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":66,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1698919269},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266003\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}