In a bid to accelerate bilateral talks for a comprehensive free trade deal, India and Australia have agreed to exchange monthly data on preferential imports under the interim trade pact that came into force in late December 2022, even as negotiations for a trade deal with the UK are now at an advanced stage.
An agreement to share import data between India and Australia, the first such arrangement under India’s free trade agreements (FTAs) so far, was reached late last month, Commerce Ministry officials said. While the two sides are in the midst of negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Co-operation Agreement (CECA), India’s exports to Australia rose 14% in financial year 2023-24 to almost $8 billion.
On the US government’s decision to hike tariffs on a slew of imports from China, including electric vehicles (EVs), EV batteries, semiconductors and solar cells and medical equipment, officials said it would be speculative to assume that this would result in such goods being dumped in India.
“We don’t see any need to worry and we already have an institutional anti-dumping mechanism in place to deal with such eventualities,” a senior official said, stressing that all countries, including the US, are looking to reduce their dependence on China for important sectors.
