"White House names India among top enablers of Chinese tariff evasion"
Tariff evasion / trade deflection
routing goods through a third country to avoid higher tariffs applicable to the origin country.
Rules of Origin
WTO standards determining a product's country of origin; 'substantial transformation' is the key test.
India's trade policy architecture has been shaped by the twin imperatives of domestic industrial development and integration into global value chains. Since the liberalisation of 1991, when India opened its economy under the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992, the country has progressively reduced tariffs, signed bilateral and regional trade agreements, and aligned its trade regime with WTO obligations. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) administers this framework, while the Ministry of Commerce and Industry leads bilateral negotiations.
India's structural trade position reflects a persistent challenge: it exports services, pharmaceuticals, and textiles, while importing capital goods, electronics, crude oil, and intermediate inputs — a composition that reflects a technology gap rather than merely a tariff gap. India's bilateral trade deficit with China has grown to approximately $116 billion, driven by deep dependence on Chinese machinery, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), and electronics components. Simultaneously, the United States remains India's largest export destination, making the bilateral relationship economically indispensable. This dual dependence — on China for inputs and on the US for export markets — creates a structural tension at the heart of India's trade diplomacy.
Tariff evasion through third-country routing — sometimes called transshipment or trade deflection — occurs when goods originating in a high-tariff country are routed through a third country, undergo minor processing or re-labelling, and are then exported to the destination market at the lower tariff applicable to the transit country. Under WTO rules, specifically the Agreement on Rules of Origin, goods must undergo 'substantial transformation' to qualify for a different country's tariff treatment. The US argument against India is that the transformation being applied to Chinese goods falls short of this threshold.
The distinction between finished goods re-export and genuine intermediate-goods manufacturing is therefore analytically critical. India's import composition from China has been shifting: the share of intermediate goods — components, sub-assemblies, and raw materials — has been rising relative to finished products. This shift is consistent with the logic of Make in India, where domestic value addition occurs at the assembly and manufacturing stage even if upstream inputs are sourced from China. …
Which of the following has/have occurred in India after its liberalization of economic policies in 1991?
1.Share of agriculture in GDP increased enormously.
2.Share of India's exports in world trade increased.
3.FDI inflows increased.
4.India's foreign exchange reserves increased enormously.
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
Which among the following steps is most likely to be taken at the time of an economic recession?
Consider the following statements:
The effect of devaluation of a currency is that it necessarily
1.improves the competitiveness of the domestic exports in the foreign markets
2.increases the foreign value of domestic currency
3.improves the trade balance
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
With reference to the WTO Agreement on Rules of Origin, consider the following statements:
1.It requires that goods undergo 'substantial transformation' to qualify for a different country's tariff treatment.
2.Minor re-labelling or cosmetic modification of imported goods is sufficient to establish a new country of origin.
3.The agreement is part of the Uruguay Round package of 1994.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Which of the following best describes 'Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974'?
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