What are the primary reasons for the lack of progress in the India-ASEAN trade deal review?

 What are the primary reasons for the lack of progress in the India-ASEAN trade deal review?

Despite nine meetings held over the last year to review the trade agreement between India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), no progress has been made on any item.

The primary reasons for this lack of progress, as indicated by the sources, include:

•Failure to agree on terms: Even after nine rounds of review, the ASEAN side has not accepted terms on even one item. A source stated that India had to exert "a lot of pressure" for ASEAN to even agree to a review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA).

•Perceived imbalance in the original agreement: India believes the original 2009 agreement was disadvantageous.

◦Higher market access granted by India: India opened 71% of its tariff lines to ASEAN countries, while countries like Indonesia opened 41%, Vietnam 66.5%, and Thailand 67%.

◦Trade deficit concerns: Over the last 15 years, India's exports to ASEAN have doubled, but its imports from ASEAN have tripled. These factors necessitated a review, but India feels it is "being stonewalled".

•Concerns about circumvention and dumping:

◦Highly subsidized raw materials from China: India's investigations found that some ASEAN countries were receiving highly subsidized raw materials from China, processing them, and then exporting the finished goods to India. In response, India imposed anti-dumping duties on the originating country.

◦Dumping of steel: The trade deal with ASEAN also allowed for the dumping of steel in India.