Congress committed 'grave mistake' by pushing FTA with China, failed deals with Japan and Korea: Goyal

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday launched a sharp attack on the Congress party over its approach to trade agreements, accusing it of endangering India’s economic interests by pushing for free trade arrangements involving China.

In an interview with ANI, Goyal criticised the Congress leadership for supporting India’s entry into the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), calling it a “grave mistake” that could have put the country at risk.

“The Congress party’s track record is that bad. Friends like Jairam Ramesh and parties like the Congress were pushing India to enter into an FTA with China. I want to ask them directly: How did you even think of letting India enter RCEP, which was effectively an FTA between China and India? How did you have the courage to put India at risk? This was a grave mistake by Congress. Congress must answer the people about how they were willing to harm India’s interests through an FTA with China. This is the Congress track record,” ANI quoted him as saying.

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#WATCH | Delhi: UPA did bad FTAs with Japan and Korea, said Union Minister Piyush Goyal

Drawing a comparison between FTAs signed under the UPA government and the recently signed India-EU FTA, Union Minister Piyush Goyal says in an interview with ANI, "The Congress government had… pic.twitter.com/LPHRySLPRB

— ANI (@ANI) January 30, 2026

Goyal also criticised free trade agreements signed by the UPA government with Japan and South Korea, saying the deals had failed to boost India’s exports.

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“The Congress government had signed an FTA with Japan and Korea. That FTA was so bad that our exports to those countries haven’t increased at all,” Goyal said.

He added that products granted duty concessions under those agreements were not reaching those markets, while imports from Japan and South Korea into India had doubled.

Goyal compared the earlier agreements with the recently concluded India–European Union FTA, arguing that the latter had been negotiated on more favourable terms for India.

The minister said that 99% of Indian exports would attract zero duty, describing it as a balanced deal. He said the current government had signed FTAs with developed countries while safeguarding domestic interests.

Goyal also said the government avoided entering into trade agreements with countries that directly compete with India or have significantly lower labour costs, arguing that such deals could harm Indian manufacturers.

With inputs from agencies