Crossing the Himalayas
China and India have been rivals since at least the era of the Great Khans. Most of the world defines their rivalry by border disputes in the Himalayas. But their competition extends to the pursuit of resources, campaigning for foreign direct investment, trying to out-influence each other in world affairs, space programs, and – of course – trade policy.
Chinese Truck Parts?
Following up on my post last month about the rise of protectionism during the recession (see Broken Promises), it is worth noting that India is now the world leader in imposing anti-dumping duties against China. Antidumping duties or safeguard duties have been imposed by India in the past few months on Chinese-origin sodium hydrosulphate (no, I don’t know what it is used for), aluminum foil, diethyl thio phosphorylc chloride (got me!), carbon black, truck parts and soda ash. India is currently investigating whether to impose antidumping duties on Chinese penicillin, coumarin, barium carbonate, passenger car tires, weaving machines, SDH transmission equipment, viscose staple fibers and nylon tire cord. India has also launched a countervailing duty investigation into Chinese sodium nitrite on suspicion of subsidies. And India has banned imports of Chinese chocolate, milk and toys on safety grounds. I’m sure each of these moves can be justified, but the pattern is disturbing. Of course, if China is using dumping prices and subsidies to the extent India maintains, that’s pretty disturbing, too.
China has been more restrained in its trade measures viv-a-vis India. Or perhaps Indian exporters haven’t been spending much effort on China lately.
