Davos: India PM Modi warns that globalization is ‘losing its luster’

Update Davos: India PM Modi warns that globalization is ‘losing its luster’
Updated 23 January 2018
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Davos: India PM Modi warns that globalization is ‘losing its luster’

Davos: India PM Modi warns that globalization is ‘losing its luster’

DAVOS: Globalization is “slowly losing its luster” in an age of protectionism, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, as he made a rallying cry for free trade.
Modi said the recent wave of trade protectionism, in which governments raise barriers to free trade between nations, is “worrisome.”
“It feels like the opposite of globalization is happening,” he told the forum.
“Forces of protectionism are raising their heads against globalization ... The solution to this worrisome situation against globalization is not isolation.”
Modi did not single out Donald Trump's administration in his address, but his words can be seen as a counter to the “America First” stance of the US president.
The Indian PM delivered the speech on Tuesday just hours after the Trump government approved tariffs on imported solar-energy components and large washing machines in a bid to help US manufacturers.
Modi is leading a big government and business delegation to the summit in Davos, the first Indian prime minister do so in 21 years, aiming to showcase India as a fast-growing economic power and a potential driver of global growth.