'Caught napping at wheels': Cong slams govt over trade deficit with China

Our domestic industries are being decimated and shutting down, unable to compete with the onslaught of cheap Chinese goods, the Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said

The Congress on Saturday hit out at the Centre over the issue of trade deficit with China and said that while other countries around the world had taken measures to restrict uncontrolled Chinese imports, "our government has been caught napping at the wheels".

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the data revealed by the government in the Rajya Sabha shows that India's trade deficit with China has surged by about 16% over the last two years from $73,306.2 million in FY22 to $85,079.03 million in FY24.

"Governments across the world are taking note of China's industrial overcapacity and its dumping of goods overseas. However, unlike most governments that have taken proactive measures to restrict uncontrolled Chinese imports, our government has been caught napping at the wheels," Ramesh said in a post on X.

"Our domestic industries are being decimated and shutting down, unable to compete with the onslaught of cheap Chinese goods," the Congress general secretary said.

"The public clean chit of the non-biological PM to China on June 19th 2020 has proved disastrous in more respects than one," he alleged.

The Congress has been attacking the government over the issue of trade deficit with China and calling for immediate steps to tackle the same.