As the global trading system fractures, India can protect its economic and strategic autonomy by expanding trade partnerships, diversifying export markets and resisting deals that constrain relations with other countries.

India has signed a flurry of trade deals since Donald Trump’s return to the White House in an attempt to ensure that no single bilateral rupture will cause catastrophic harm. It should continue to expand its trade ties, while being wary of any bilateral agreement that curtails its freedom of action vis-à-vis third countries.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s participation in the recently concluded Shanghai Cooperation Council meeting in Kyrgyzstan was about more than regional security; he also used the forum to push for deeper trade links between member states. This is only the latest example of India’s proactive pursuit of trade diplomacy. Last year’s free trade agreement (FTA) with the United Kingdom was followed this January by the ‘mother of all deals’, a wide-ranging agreement with the European Union. And high-level trade talks continue with the United States, building on a joint statement of intent issued in February.

But the backdrop to this big push is fraught, to put it mildly. US President Donald Trump’s sweeping and erratic tariffs are only the latest body blow to the international trading system. The World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body, which adjudicates trade disputes between member states, has been decapitated since 2019. Countries are increasingly viewing trade and investment through a national security lens. The rules-based multilateral trade order that the Asian Tigers and China relied on to pursue export-led development has effectively collapsed, with no evident successor in sight. As Antonio Gramsci put it at another moment of profound........

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