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India is not interested in joining the ASEAN countries’ efforts in formulating a joint strategy on US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs as they are “competitors” and New Delhi is already negotiating a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with Washington, a senior official has said.
On Monday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar discussed the early completion of the BTA with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “Exchanged perspectives on the Indo-Pacific, the Indian sub-continent, Europe, Middle East/West Asia and the Caribbean. Agreed on the importance of the early conclusion of the Bilateral Trade Agreement,” Jaishankar posted on social media platform `X’.
New Delhi is also focused on speedy conclusion of FTA talks with developed country partners such as the EU, the UK, Australia and New Zealand and also diversification of its markets through pacts with countries in Latin America and West Asia, the official added.
“Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and his team are already in talks with the US on the proposed BTA and are hoping for an expedited resolution to the 26 per cent reciprocal tariffs slapped on the country’s exports. There is no point joining causes with the ten-member ASEAN countries as they are our competitors,” a senior official told businessline.
Malaysia, which is this year’s ASEAN Chair, has plans of holding a meeting with ASEAN member countries to reach an agreement on the reciprocity against tariffs policy announced by Trump. Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is reported to have said that he is in touch with several ASEAN leaders, including from Indonesia and Thailand, for a joint strategy.
BTA push
Reciprocal tariffs imposed on India are lower than many of its ASEAN competitors such as Vietnam (46 per cent), Cambodia (49 per cent), Thailand (36 per cent), Indonesia (32 per cent), so it has a competitive advantage in products where they compete with each other, such as textiles and electronics.
But as countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia are trying to strike deals with the US, the pressure is on India to move fast on its BTA, an industry source said.
With Trump playing tough and saying that he would rollback tariffs for specific countries only when trade deficits are fully bridged, New Delhi is preparing for tough negotiations for BTA, the source added.
“I spoke to a lot of leaders, European, Asian, from all over the world..They’re dying to make a deal. And I said, we’re not going to have deficits with your country…We’re going to have surpluses or at worst, going to be breaking even,” Trump said on Sunday.
New Delhi is also focussed on ongoing negotiations with its prominent trade partners the EU, the UK, Australia and such pacts could give a big push to exports, the official said.
Additionally, it is hopeful of diversifying its markets through free trade pacts with Latin American countries such as Chile and Peru and also West Asia, he added.
Published on April 7, 2025
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