I am inherently sceptical of an economic surgical strike against China, not because of economics, but our own capacity.
We have atrophied our own policy-making/thinking capabilities at the highest echelons of the administration. I am pessimistic of our ability to coldly delineate products where Indian firms have a challenger status, and where Indian firms have surrendered.
Further, we in India have an enduring romance for swadeshi (damn 1905!) and find it easy to get into the throes of protectionism indefinitely.
Lastly, hard for us to do protectionism, as such a policy assumes we can not only solve above-mentioned challenges well, but also identify Chinese goods that will be routed through other countries(this will get very attractive if Chinese CPI turns negative). We have seen ASEAN trade agreements being abused like that in past.
I am inherently sceptical of an economic surgical strike against China, not because of economics, but our own capacity.
We have atrophied our own policy-making/thinking capabilities at the highest echelons of the administration. I am pessimistic of our ability to coldly delineate products where Indian firms have a challenger status, and where Indian firms have surrendered.
Further, we in India have an enduring romance for swadeshi (damn 1905!) and find it easy to get into the throes of protectionism indefinitely.
Lastly, hard for us to do protectionism, as such a policy assumes we can not only solve above-mentioned challenges well, but also identify Chinese goods that will be routed through other countries(this will get very attractive if Chinese CPI turns negative). We have seen ASEAN trade agreements being abused like that in past.