“We can’t continue to allow China to rape our country and that’s what they’re doing. It’s the greatest theft in the history of the world.” Donald Trump told during his campaign rally in May 2016 on China trade activities. If people thought that this was just election talk they couldn’t be more wrong.

Once taking oath, Trump & his office took series of hard steps against China hoping to compel them to review their trade practices. USA has already imposed tariffs on $ 250 billion worth of Chinese goods and China, for its part, imposed tariffs on $ 110 billion worth of US products. In further escalation of the situation last week, USA pulled a big blow to China by cutting off tech giant Huawei from their American goods providers (Qualcomm and Google).

This trade tussle between world’s two biggest economies is raising concerns about damage to global economic growth. As far as India is concerned, this situation might present with some opportunities along with few threats to tackle. If this Trade war continues, there could be a significant shift in manufacturing sector, which could be beneficial for India. According to UNCTAD, India will be among few economies that may get benefited from this trade tussle between USA & China.

An advisory group set up by Indian Commerce Ministry recommended slashing of custom tariffs. India’s average tariff at present stands at 13.8 percent. They recommended India’s upper range of tariffs and number of tariff rates should be reduced gradually over next five years. India’s exports to China went up by 31.4 percent in year 2018, while to USA it rose up by 11.2 percent during same time.  To effectively harness the emerging opportunities, India need to have clear plan for export opportunities as well as for FDI as many multinational companies are looking for new investment destination.