India has decided not to participate in the joint statement on any of the 4 pillars of the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). India’s trade minister has raised concerns about possible discrimination against developing economies.
India has decided not to participate in the joint statement on any of the 4 pillars of the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). India’s trade minister has raised concerns about possible discrimination against developing economies.
India, engaged in IPEF, but awaits more details on trade pillar
India is the only one of the 14 countries of the IPEF, which includes Southeast Asian countries, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan, not to have joined the statement on this pillar.
The initiative led by the President of the United States since May 2022, with the countries of the Indo-Pacific region aims to rally them to the idea of a trade agreement based on four pillars: a connected economy (digital trade, data), a resilient economy, a clean economy and a fair economy.
The Indian government said after the meeting that India had “comprehensively engaged” on all four pillars and was “comfortable” with statements of results on all three. other pillars: supply chains, clean economy (clean energy) and fair economy (taxation and fight against corruption).
India has already withdrawn from a similar agreement, the RCEP
Some time ago India withdrew, after seven years of negotiations, from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), an IPEF-like grouping that includes China but not the United States. A government statement, however, stressed that India had not left the IPEF negotiations and that delegations would continue to participate.