India Joins 14-Nation Push Against Industrial Overcapacity, China Stays Out
India and 13 nations call for global action to curb excess industrial production and protect domestic industries.
By Sakshi
New Delhi, October 8: India and 13 other countries issued a joint statement on Wednesday in Washington, United States, calling for coordinated global action to curb excess industrial production, saying such practices distort markets, hurt domestic industries and create supply-demand imbalances. The statement followed a meeting on the sidelines of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Trade Committee deliberations.
“We call on all countries to take steps to eliminate structural excess capacity and production in their economies, including by ending the use of non-market policies and practices that distort markets and contribute to the problem,” the joint statement said.
G20 Trade Discussion
Building on discussions at the G20 (Group of Twenty) Trade Ministerial in Milwaukee, US, the economies joined the US in signing a Joint Ministerial Statement to work together through new, dedicated sectoral platforms to examine and take effective action against structural excess capacity and production in several key sectors of concern, the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) said.
Who Signed, Who Didn’t
Trade ministers of Argentina, Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Poland, Turkiye, the United Kingdom and the United States were among the signatories.
Meanwhile, G20 members China, Brazil, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa did not sign the joint statement.
The G20 Trade Ministerial in Milwaukee had failed to reach a consensus on issues related to forced labour and excess industrial capacity.
“Over the course of the US G20 presidency, numerous economies raised instances of structural excess capacity and production in economies that persistently exceeded global demand and were sustained by foreign governments’ non-market policies and practices,” USTR Jamieson Greer said in a statement.
“Left unchecked, these issues will continue to cripple domestic industries, displace local production, and hinder our ability to raise the standard of living for workers and their families,” he said.
According to Greer, the Trump administration will continue engaging with US trading partners to protect its domestic economy, workers and industries from distortions resulting from such policies and practices.
(Inputs from PTI)
