No one will lecture India about 'WTO norms' anymore: Zoho's Vembu

New Delhi, May 20 : Zoho Founder and CEO Sridhar Vembu on Monday said that no country will lecture India about World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) norms anymore after the US imposed hefty tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs). 

In March, China started dispute settlement proceedings against the US at the WTO, accusing Washington of “discriminatory” EV subsidies.

Last week, US President Joe Biden unveiled plans to quadruple tariffs on Chinese EVs.

“The US has imposed big new tariffs on Chinese EVs. Trade frictions, particularly between the US and China, are escalating rapidly,” Vembu posted on social media platform X.

“At least, no one will lecture India about "WTO norms" anymore. More seriously, this is the inevitable outcome of decades of extreme monetary madness, which gave rise to exploding trade deficits and debt,” he elaborated.

The Biden move plans to hike tariffs this year on Chinese EVs from 25 per cent to 100 per cent and on lithium-ion EV batteries from 7.5 per cent to 25 per cent.

“Conventional wisdom has been that ‘deficits don't matter.’ We don't have to balance any book, we can let trade imbalances go on forever. It is this flawed idea that is undermining global trade now,” said Vembu.

The Biden administration also plans to hike tariffs on solar cells from 25 per cent to 50 per cent, on certain steel and aluminum products from up to 7.5 per cent to 25 per cent.