Protectionism threatening economic gains: India’s Prime Minister

NEW DELHI — “Rising parochial and protectionist” attitudes are threatening global economic gains, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday (Jan 17), the same day China’s leader warned against blaming globalisation for the world’s ills.

The vocal defence of globalisation from the leaders of the two Asian powerhouses comes just days before US president-elect Donald Trump takes office.

“A sentiment against trade and migration, and rising parochial and protectionist attitudes across the globe are also a stark statistic,” Mr Modi said in a keynote address at an annual geo-political conference in New Delhi.

“The result (is that) globalisation gains are at risk and economic gains are no longer easy to come by.”

His remarks echoed those of Chinese President Xi Jinping at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday, which were met hailed by government and industry leaders.

Mr Xi, in his hour-long maiden speech at the annual Davos elite gathering, said “no one will emerge as a winner in a trade war”, in an apparent reference to growing protectionism in US and Europe.

US president-elect Donald Trump, whose inauguration will take place on Jan 20, has long blamed China and globalisation for the loss of millions of US factory jobs.

Throughout his election campaign he threatened to block the outsourcing of jobs from the US and slap tariffs on goods from other countries, including China.

India is one of the largest beneficiaries of US industrial outsourcing and fears increasing protectionism will result in job cuts for Indians.

Mr Modi, without naming any country, said there is a need to “guard against any instinct or inclination that promotes exclusion” in an increasingly multipolar world.

“Voices of many, not views of a few should shape the global agenda,” he said.

Mr Modi was speaking at the yearly, three-day geo-political “Raisina Dialogue” conference, attended by politicians and military officials from 65 countries.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Canadian former PM Stephen Harper will also address the conference. AFP