RCEP a no-go, Modi says conscience doesn’t allow
THAILAND VISIT PM says trade deal will have adverse impact on lives, livelihoods of Indians
NEW DELHI: India on Monday decided not to join the RCEP trade agreement, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi telling leaders of the 15 other participating countries the deal doesn’t satisfactorily address New Delhi’s “outstanding issues and concerns”.
Addressing the RCEP Summit in Bangkok, Modi said: “The present form of the RCEP agreement does not fully reflect the basic spirit and the agreed guiding principles of RCEP. It also does not address satisfactorily India’s outstanding issues and concerns. In such a situation, it is not possible for India to join the RCEP agreement.”
He added: “When I measure the RCEP agreement with respect to the interests of all Indians, I do not get a positive answer. Therefore, neither the Talisman of Gandhiji nor my own conscience permits me to join RCEP.”
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) comprises the 10 Asean states and six of the grouping’s FTA partners – Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea – and an agreement will lead to the creation of one the world’s largest free trade regions.
A joint statement issued after a meeting of leaders of the 16 countries said the other nations had concluded text-based negotiations on all matters, such as rules of origin and trade in goods and services, and market access issues, and will go ahead with “legal scrubbing” to sign the agreement in 2020.
Despite New Delhi’s stated position that it wasn’t joining the deal, the joint statement noted that all participating countries will work together to resolve India’s “significant outstanding issues” in a mutually satisfactory way, and that “India’s final decision will depend on satisfactory resolution” of these matters.
The Modi government has faced tremendous pressure from various sectors of domestic industry and bodies affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) not to join RCEP, especially over the past year as negotiations entered the final phase. Industry bodies expressed concern about the rules of origin and India proposed an auto trigger mechanism for safeguard duties to kick in when imports from other countries, particularly China, crossed a threshold.
Modi said at the summit that he cannot overlook many changes, including in the global economic and trade scenarios, that have occurred since negotiations began in 2012. The country’s farmers, traders, professionals and industries “have stakes in such decisions”, and workers and consumers who make India a huge market and the third biggest economy are equally important, he added. The PM also said India had worked for the objective of striking a balance in the spirit of give and take since the country stands for greater regional integration, freer trade and adherence to a rules-based international order.
Union home minister Amit Shah said India’s decision not to sign RCEP reflects PM Modi’s “strong leadership and unflinching resolve to protect the national interest”. “PM Narendra Modi’s firm stand over the years of not going ahead with a deal if our interests are not taken care of, is a welcome break from the past, where a weak UPA government ceded precious ground on trade and could not protect national interest,” he wrote in a series of tweets criticising the Congressled United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
The Congress too said a forceful opposition had ensured that the BJP-led NDA government backs out of the deal. The party’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the decision was a victory for all those protecting national interests, writing on Twitter: “A forceful opposition by Congress and Rahul Gandhi ensures that BJP government backs down from bartering the interests of farmers, dairy producers, fishermen, small and medium businesses at the altar of political expediency (sic).”