#165 Vishwaguru Max?

Not(PolicyWTF):&#160;Trade Deals Are Good<br/><br/>This section looks at policies that are surprisingly sane.<br/><br/>- RSJ<br/><br/>We signed a trade deal with Australia yesterday. For over a decade now, we have been trying to get this going. The deal falls just short of a free trade agreement (FTA) but that&#8217;s a minor quibble that should get sorted in future. Australia&#8217;s desire to reduce its dependence on China as the primary trading partner and India&#8217;s willingness to have a stronger link with the Quad on economic matters seem to have brought the deal to fruition. There is a small matter of upcoming national elections in Australia too where the economy will play a key role in setting the agenda. The deal is significant in what it signals about the Indian government&#8217;s view on global trade. For the past few years, we have gone on and on about atmanirbhar Bharat whose primary manifestation was an increase in import duties across a range of goods taking us back to the pre-liberalisation era. We have lamented about this wrong turn. As Pranay argues we must focus on atmashakti instead of atmanirbharta. So, reading the key terms of the deal warms my heart. As <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-india-trade-deal-open-biggest-economic-door-morrison-2022-04-02/#:~:text=The%20deal%20with%20India%20removes,non%2Dferrous%20metals%20to%20India.">Reuters reports</a>:<br/><br/>&#8220;The deal with India removes tariffs on more than 85% of Australian goods exports to India, worth A$12.6 billion, rising to almost 91% over 10 years. Tariffs will be scrapped on sheep meat, wool, copper, coal, alumina, fresh Australian rock lobster, and some critical minerals and non-ferrous metals to India.<br/><br/>It will see 96% of Indian goods imports enter Australia duty-free.&#8221;<br/><br/>That&#8217;s good. What&#8217;s better was the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that India signed last month with the UAE. There were the usual agreements on tariffs and duties which is