India is shooting itself in the foot on trade — again

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Indian imports to the US. One of the few recognizable threads knitting together the tangle that is Trump’s long tenure in public life is a disdain for “unfair” tariffs. India is often singled out for failing to reciprocate America’s generally low import taxes. If India charges us 100 per cent tariffs, Trump asked, do we charge them nothing for the same goods?

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Trump was, however, barking up the wrong tree. The real problem with India’s trade policy lies in a seemingly innocent administrative procedure that doesn’t sound half as dangerous as tariffs. Most people operating in India today don’t complain about import taxes so much as they do about non-tariff barriers to trade. In particular, companies are flummoxed by a new weapon in the bureaucrats’ arsenal they call “Quality Control Orders.”

QCOs are apparently innocuous demands that imports into India satisfy quality standards. In practice, however, they have become over the past two years an instrument to restrict imports and minimize competition. India’s commerce minister said in October that more than 700 have already been issued; he’s aiming for 2,500. They cover multiple goods — shoes, toys, steel, honey, chemicals. In private, officials say that something of the sort is vital to protect consumers