‘Completely unlinked to…’: Piyush Goyal says India’s China shift not linked to US trade talks; hints at ‘tons’ of reforms

Amidst looming 50% US tariffs by the Donald Trump administration, Commerce minister Piyush Goyal has said that India’s bettering trade ties with China are independent of the India-US trade deal talks.

Talking about the shift in India’s policy towards China, Piyush Goyal said, “I think that shift has nothing to do with this current situation. The problem started post Galwan after the agreement was reached on important border issues.”

“We had already started re-engaging, and that was completely unlinked to any matters related to the current trade agreement with the US. So I would not like to hyphenate or link the two,” Goyal said at the ET World Leaders Forum.

The Commerce minister also expressed confidence about India’s economy. “India has so much resilience. and strength. India is full of possibilities-the world's fastest-growing economy. We have strong economic fundamentals,” he said.

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India-US trade deal talks

Talking about the India-US trade deal, Goyal said, “Amongst the many works at hand, that is one issue which we are addressing with a very open mind, a positive outlook and the confidence that the India-US relationship is very consequential, very important for both countries.

“I have been engaged with industry in India and companies from the US working in India. Everybody believes that this is an important engagement relationship at the same time.

I just had a very large businessperson from Mumbai, in my office who told me that I'm an exporter to the US and concerned about the current situation, I'd like to start by telling you that we stand fully with the government of India. We are committed to the nation,” Goyal said.

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Next-generation reforms in works

In Parliament, Jan Vishwas 2.0 was recently introduced. Regarding the next phase of reforms that PM Narendra Modi announced during his Independence Day speech, Goyal said there are numerous possibilities under consideration.

“We are looking for ideas big and small…we would like to decriminalise as many laws as we can, reduce regulatory burden on industry. Maybe we won't be able to deliver 100% but we'll make a sincere effort...We have decriminalised 355 sections in Jan Vishwas Bill 2.0, I want to take it up to 1,355. The select committee is going to be seeking suggestions. If required, I'll introduce a completely new bill,” he said.

Regarding policies, particularly for labour-intensive sectors, a GST restructuring is under consideration. “We'll see how we can support many of these labor intensive sectors, like food processing, textile through the GST framework to give a boost to domestic demand. Our ministry and different line ministries are already looking at complementarity of our strength areas with other economies,” he said.

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