India’s merchandise trade with two of its largest trade partners, the US and China, has panned out very differently.
Total merchandise trade1 with the US touched $120 billion in fiscal 2024. Trade with China came close to $118 billion — its highest level ever.
With both these partners, India’s total trade doubled over the last decade and rose 1.4 times over the last five years (chart 1).
This is where the similarity ends. Beyond this, there is a striking polarity in trade relations.
What is well-known: India enjoyed a trade surplus of $35.3 billion with the US in fiscal 2024. With China, India had a large trade deficit of $85.1 billion — its largest with any partner (chart 1).
Trade surplus with the US has grown 9.8% on average over the last decade, while trade deficit with China has expanded 11.1%.
The lesser-known fact: Both India’s imports from and exports to the US have doubled in the decade gone by. In contrast, while imports from China have also doubled, exports to the country have stagnated (chart 2).
