'It Is India And China...': UK, German Envoys On Importance To Global Trade

India and China are both important trading partners and key global players, top envoys from the United Kingdom and Germany said Friday morning at the NDTV World Summit 2025.

British High Commissioner Lindy Cameron admitted China's heft but stressed 'India will be more important', while Dr Philipp Ackermann said, "It is not either/or... it is India AND China."

Asked about China's rise in the global economic and trade spaces, both spoke about the need to ensure a diversity of trade partners, particularly amid increasingly volatile global geopolitics.

"None of us wants to be dependent on (only) one country," Cameron said.

The remarks came against the backdrop of global supply chains being disrupted by wars in Ukraine and West Asia, as well as United States President Donald Trump's tariffs.

The US has imposed 50 per cent tariff on India, including a 25 per cent 'penalty' for buying Russian oil. Trump has grumbled repeatedly that Delhi buying oil from Moscow allows the latter to fund the war on Ukraine, a war he vowed to end within weeks of being sworn-in in January.

India, meanwhile, has repeatedly said it will not bow to pressure that could impact national security. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman have both said Russian oil purchases will continue for as long as it makes economic sense.

This week Delhi and Washington were at odds over Trump's claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "assured me there will be no oil purchases from Russia... it is going to be over soon".

The External Affairs Ministry, however, said no such assurance was made.

China, meanwhile, currently face tariffs of at least 30 per cent under levies that Trump imposed while accusing Beijing of aiding in the fentanyl trade as well as unfair trade practices.

China's retaliatory tariffs are currently at 10 percent.

Beijing has also been threatened with a 100 per cent levy, sparking global fears of yet another tariff battle between the two biggest economies in the world. That prompted a strong warning.

"If the US continues on its wrong course, China will firmly take necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests," the Chinese government said.

The tariffs on India and China, and massive levies on other countries, have prompted a re-aligning of geopolitical relationships, particularly in Asia, with Russia, India, and China, never seen to be on the same page before, now openly talking up trade and economic partnerships.

PM Modi, Putin, and China President Xi Jinping all attended last month's Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting in the latter country, and a photo of all three together was flagged by American media as an indication of the 'new world order', one headed by Asia.

As far as India and China are concerned, US tariffs do seem to have brought the two closer together. Thawing of ties between the two - frozen for decades over the border dispute, were underlined by the PM's trip to China and, before that, China Foreign Minister Wang Yi meeting Jaishankar in Delhi, all of which emphasised the 'dragon and elephant' dance metaphor.