Piyush Goyal hits out at China for 'unfair trade practices', blames UPA for ballooning deficit
New Delhi: As global tensions rise over a looming trade war triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff moves, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has launched a sharp critique of China, accusing it of gaining economic dominance through "unfair trade practices," according to media reports.
Speaking at the India Global Forum in Mumbai, Goyal said China had built its economic rise “at the cost of fair play,” reported Times Now.
“Its foundation lay in actions which, by the rules of the game, would be considered improper,” he said, according to the report.
Goyal argued that China’s growth came at the expense of several national manufacturing ecosystems, including India’s.
He said the current trade standoff is not sudden but a result of decades of global inaction.
“The current state of play, in some way, is a culmination of almost three decades of this attack on several economies,” he said, the report added.
Targeting the previous UPA government, Goyal said the India-China trade deficit exploded during its tenure.
“When Atal Bihari Vajpayee laid down office in 2004, the India-China trade deficit was at a certain level. In the 10 years of the UPA government, that trade deficit soared by 25 times,” he said, according to the report.
In a political charge, Goyal accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of signing a controversial MoU with the Communist Party of China, which he claimed was followed by steep tariff reductions that enabled Chinese goods to flood Indian markets.
“This killed many of our local manufacturing sectors and made us dependent on China,” he said, calling the UPA era “10 years of mismanagement of the economy.”
Goyal said global expectations that China would reform after joining the WTO had not materialised.
“Many parts of the world were convinced China would reform itself — transform its processes, bring transparency into its economy, and work on fair terms in the global economy,” he said.
He also criticised Chinese pricing practices: “We don’t find fair pricing from China.”
Despite a global stock market plunge on Monday, Goyal noted India was relatively better off, with only a 3% fall in key indices — significantly lower than some countries that saw up to 9% declines. He said the turbulence reflected long-standing imbalances in global trade systems, especially since China’s entry into the WTO.
“There is no belligerence from me. I laid down the fact very calmly,” he added, the report said.
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