China, Gandhi or RSS? The real reason India snubbed RCEP trade pact
- Showman Modi invoked Gandhi as he pulled out of ‘the world’s largest trade deal’
- Did he forget to mention protectionist Hindu nationalists and the gaping trade imbalance with China?
Until this week, few people would have used the word “intrigue” in the same sentence as the “Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership”.
After all, even something touted as “the world’s largest free-trade deal” starts to lose a bit of pizzazz after 28 rounds and seven years of talks.
In a move few had expected, he announced at a summit of 16 countries involved in the deal – known as the RCEP – that India would not be signing up after all.
It was like a bubble of hype had suddenly burst. Had all gone to plan, with the involvement of both China and India, the RCEP would have covered nearly half of the world’s population and around 40 per cent of its GDP. Yet, stripped of the world’s second-most populous nation, the hubris lay bare for all to see.
