Mint Quick Edit | Indian trade is holding up but is that enough?

Also Read: Mint Quick Edit | India’s trade has held up

While declines were  expected, given the global flux that trade patterns are in, India’s external balances are free of stress. In this sense, trade is holding up well amid choppy seas. So far, the economy has largely been insulated in other ways too. 

Also Read: Export thrust: India should move goods like a horse to trade like a tiger

Yet, what happens in the years ahead is what matters and it’s still unclear if India can emerge with a competitive edge from the US trade reset that’s underway. The trouble with a world in which the classic rules of free trade no longer apply is that export success depends on factors beyond the control of an exporter.

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As with excessive state intervention in markets, it often means that key outcomes are shaped behind closed doors instead of being determined by an open contest. If global trade goes this way, then any nation’s quest for export-led economic growth would be vulnerable to arbitrary containment.