India is learnt to have asked for better market access in order to be a part of the trade pillar of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), a 14-nation trade bloc, officials said. Renewed deliberations within the Union Commerce Ministry are learnt to be centred on whether New Delhi should first take a commitment on joining even if there is lack of clarity about specific gains or join now instead as 13 countries are already negotiating the nitty gritties and if India were to accede later, it could be at a disadvantage at having missed out on the negotiations.
As of now, market access has not been agreed upon for India, which is being seen as a crucial factor to join the trade pillar (Pillar-I), the official said. India has an observer status on the trade pillar negotiations.
The developments come after text-based negotiations under the supply chain pillar (Pillar-II) were substantially concluded in the second ministerial meeting in May in the US. “India is there in other three pillars under the IPEF. Second pillar of supply chains is very important, which we have finalised. For trade pillar, we are asking for better market access. We are also seeing how better we can negotiate it,” the senior government official told The Indian Express.
Launched in May last year at Tokyo, the IPEF has 14 partner countries including Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the US with an aim to strengthen economic engagement among the member countries to advance growth, peace and prosperity in the region.
The IPEF framework is structured around four pillars relating to Trade (Pillar I); Supply Chains (Pillar II); Clean Economy (Pillar III); and Fair Economy (Pillar IV). India has joined Pillars II to IV of IPEF while it had opted out from Pillar-I in September last year and now has an observer status in Pillar-I.
“Under the IPEF trade pillar, they have not given market access yet. They are asking India to sign the trade pillar, but it is still not fully clear about what all we will get if we sign it. Earlier also India felt that we are not getting much out of it and environmental and labour laws conditions have been stringent. Some of the other countries are also finding these conditions as stringent and they are also negotiating it,” the official said.
The 14-nation IPEF bloc is seen as crucial as it accounts for about 40 per cent of the world’s GDP and 28 per cent of the world’s trade in goods and services and is seen as an economic and trade strategy backed by the US to counter China’s economic influence in the region. India had been reluctant earlier to join Pillar-I in view of concerns to protect its domestic agricultural, labour and digital sectors without being completely sure about the impact of joining the IPEF.
The fourth negotiating round of IPEF for all pillars is currently underway from July 9-15 hosted by Korea in Busan. The first negotiating round was held in Australia in December 2022, followed by a special negotiating round on Pillars II-IV in India in February 2023. The second negotiating round was held in Indonesia in March 2023, followed by the third negotiating round in Singapore in May 2023. On May 27, the IPEF partners met in Detroit, Michigan for a ministerial meeting.
