The trade war triggered by the US will inevitably have a wider psychological impact, causing uncertainty in Asian monetary and trade policies. In the era of globalization, if China suffers severe economic damage because of the US, India can hardly escape being shortchanged.

In 2017, China-India bilateral trade was up by 20.3 per cent year-on-year. China has become India's largest trading partner and India is China's largest trading partner in South Asia. The world's two largest emerging economies have reached a new high in economic and trade cooperation. India has remarkable advantages in IT, service and pharmaceutical sectors. China leads in manufacturing as a world factory.

Now when the US’ unilateralism undermines the interests of all countries and jeopardizes the free trade system, China and India should join hands to shield free trade. In 2017, the US was China’s largest export market and China was also the US’ largest import market. In addition, the US is India’s largest export destination and the second largest source of imports. The rising trade dependence of China and India with the US proves that bilateral free trade is a positive game. If the US launches a trade war on the pretext of the so-called trade deficit, all three parties will suffer.