<h1>Senior advisor urges lowering import tariffs to ASEAN levels, reconsider RCEP, seek CPTPP membership with safeguards</h1> A senior Economic Advisory Council member urged India to lower import tariffs toward ASEAN levels, warning that a weakened WTO has shifted trade governance to regional blocs and recommending reconsideration of membership in RCEP and application to CPTPP with safeguards. The advisor noted past tariff liberalization paused after 2012, and said tariff cuts would require exchange-rate adjustment to protect exporters and manufacturers. He advocated welcoming investment and joint ventures from China, subject to current land-border FDI approval rules, and recommended targeted fiscal support for exporters and regions likely harmed by recent punitive US tariffs on Indian goods.