China overtakes US as India’s largest trading partner
China became India’s largest trading partner in the 2025-26 financial year, overtaking the US, Beijing’s embassy in New Delhi has said.
Bilateral trade between India and China reached $137 billion in the period between April 2025 and February 2026, Xu Feihong, Beijing’s ambassador in New Delhi, said in a post.
“Glad to know that China has become India’s largest trading partner in FY2026 – for the 11th straight month,” Xu posted on X.
India’s bilateral trade with the US stood at $127.8 billion in the same period.
Glad to know that China has become India's largest trading partner in FY2026 — for the 11th straight month. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/2jz2mppJAF
— Xu Feihong (@China_Amb_India) April 7, 2026
Washington was New Delhi’s largest trading partner for four years in a row until 2024-25.
In February, Qin Jie, China’s consul general in Mumbai, said bilateral trade between the neighbors would not be affected by external factors.
“Because India is a very big economy and China is also a very large economy. We are countries that both support multilateralism and multilateral trade and multicultural exchange,” PTI quoted Qin as saying.
The US imposed 50% tariffs on India in August 2025, half of them as a punitive measure for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil.
In February, India and the US announced an interim trade deal, effectively bringing down tariffs to 18%.
New Delhi’s trade talks with the US came to a halt after the US Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imports from various countries.
India signed a trade pact with the European Union earlier this year, after entering into similar agreements with the UK, Oman, and New Zealand in 2025.
