Protectionism won't do: India should call a truce in US trade conflict

Protecting big business in India needs to take a back seat to the very real crisis facing Indian exports, writes Mihir Sharma.

US and Indian officials are meeting in New Delhi today (Monday) for what promises to be a tetchy summit. The trade relationship between their countries has never been easy. The fact that India has a $22-billion trade surplus with the US—despite running a deficit with many of its other major trading partners—is particularly annoying to the Trump administration. The total might seem insignificant compared to America’s $566 billion trade deficit with China. For its own sake, though, India would be wise to address rather than try to minimise U.S. complaints.

That’s not only because the US seems to be preparing