Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 5
As the government “pushes” to include the Automatic Trigger Safeguard Mechanism (ATSM) in Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade negotiations, the economic wing of the RSS, the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, is strongly objecting to the move.
The negotiators (of the Ministry of Commerce and Industries headed by Piyush Goyal) are either “unaware of ground realities or deliberately trying to misguide,” says Ashwani Mahajan from the Sangh affiliate dealing with economic issues.
“The ATSM is not only a faulty mechanism, but also requires massive corrections at the back-end. It is not a ‘one-shot protection plan’ for domestic small businesses and farmers from the adversities of entering RCEP,” says Mahajan, adding “the Commerce Ministry should not push India into premature de-industrialisation showing the fallacy of ATSM.”
While other 15 countries on the negotiations for RCEP mounted pressure on India to commit for this mega-free trade agreement, India pushed to include ATSM — a mechanism which will automatically increase levies once imports cross a given threshold. This is in addition to reviewing the Free Trade Agreement with ASEAN and other members.
ATSM is an effective tool in balancing trade among multilateral partners, say government functionaries. However, Mahajan says: “Such a safeguard mechanism can’t be implemented without falling foul of our RCEP partners, who want nothing but barrier-free markets. Sadly, these officials/negotiators are overlooking all the evidence to back the no-RCEP case.”
Mahajan also says that shortcomings of ATSM make it as a theoretical safeguard without any practical use.
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2MivHTf
via Today’s News Headlines
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