International politicians visiting India tend to use sweeping phrases such as “massive potential” and “shared interest” while describing their nations’ relationship with this country. Canadian International Trade Minister
François-Philippe Champagne, who was recently in India, gave a comic spin to his description. Noting that the value of his country’s trade with neighbour United States stood at more than 2 billion Canadian dollars every day, he said India compared poorly, with its trade at about 8 billion Canadian dollars annually. The second figure, he chuckled, would be America’s trade over the weekend and until lunch next Tuesday.
