Trump's 'tariff war' fraud

The United States is India's largest export market. In 2023-24, 17.7 per cent of India's total exports went to the US. Compared to 2023-24, there was an increase of 11.8 per cent in exports and 7.4 per cent in imports. The two countries are on the verge of a new major trade agreement, aiming to increase annual trade to $ 500 billion. Amidst this came US President Trump’s characteristic threat against the BRICS countries, of which India is a member. Trump's threat is to impose an additional 10 per cent tax on the countries belonging to the BRICS alliance.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also attended the 17th BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Trump threatened to increase tariffs after BRICS issued a joint statement. These threats are all political, unlike the hoax being spread of an economic angle at play. The joint statement of the BRICS summit had implicitly condemned the US for intervening in the war between Iran and Israel. In addition, the BRICS summit had criticised the unilateral increase in tariffs without respecting the rules of the World Trade Organisation and expressed concern that this would have serious consequences for world trade.

In the report, it mentioned that the airstrikes by the US against Iran on June 13th were a violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations. The joint statement came as a major blow to the United States, which had suspected a move from BRICS questioning the infallibility of the United States. A flustered Trump chose to respond against BRICS with his usual economic weapon: Tariffs.

Any trade, whether between countries or not, has its own economic rules and limits. Taking unilateral decisions based only on one's profits will ultimately lead to the collapse of that trade. When the United States announced that it would unscientifically raise tariffs on Chinese imports, China announced that it would raise tariffs on American imports in the same manner. The United States then suspended the tariff hike for 90 days. If such a condescending attitude comes from the US, it won’t be late for India to try newer pastures rather than clinging to bonhomie with an unsteady and cantankerous US. Trump's feudalistic tariff war is nothing but a megalomaniac’s illusion.