Lot of elbow room for business with developed countries, says Goyal – The Tribune-OxBig News Network

Union Commerce and Industries Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said India had a lot of elbow room to do business with developed countries on a bilateral front. Goyal said it was only in the case of countries resorting to irregularities and unfair trade practices where India needed to protect its domestic sector by way of tariffs.

“We believe that, bilaterally, we can work together with countries which have fair trade practices, where we do not need this kind of protection. The Indian industry is very competent. It can beat any competition in the world if everybody sticks to the rules of the game,” Goyal said as global markets crashed in the aftermath of US President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements.

“I have absolutely no hesitation in saying that, bilaterally, we have a lot of elbow room for working with developed countries and countries where we find equal opportunity to do business,” he said.

India is working on free trade agreements with the UK, the EU and New Zealand. Sources said, after Trump’s announcements, there had been an enhanced interest in understanding the Indian strategy to deal with disruptions.