India’s bid to cash in on US-China trade war fizzles as Vietnam makes hay

Taiwan and South Korea have also made greater strides than India, increasing their share of US imports by 1 percentage point and 0.7 percentage points, respectively, according to Oxford.

“The US-China trade war so far has improved India’s export prospects only to a limited extent, dashing hopes that an escalation of the conflict could boost the lagging manufacturing sector,” Alexandra Hermann, an economist at Oxford Economics wrote in a note. “India’s export strengths largely lie in sectors of the ‘old economy’, where growth potential is limited and competition is fierce.”

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US proposes new round of tariffs on China in latest trade war escalation

India has made substantial advances in boosting electronic exports to the US, but its imports of components from China have surged as well, suggesting there’s little value added to domestic manufacturing. According to Oxford, China accounted for about a third of India’s imports of electronics, machinery and chemicals & pharmaceuticals in 2023. For components such as certain semiconductor devices, as much as 67 per cent of India’s imports came from China.