‘Politics trumps economics:’ Jaishankar flags global risks in veiled reference to US

Jaishankar's remarks come against the backdrop of trade tensions between New Delhi and Washington after US President Donald Trump levied 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods, including a 25% penalty over India's purchase of Russian oil.

Amid ongoing trade tensions between India and the United States, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar flagged the global risks for economies in today’s time, stating that the politics nowadays increasingly ‘trumps’ economics in an “uncertain world”.

While addressing a gathering after being conferred an Honorary Doctorate by IIM-Calcutta, Jaishankar highlighted the significance of diversifying India’s supply sources to guarantee the country’s national needs.

“This is an era where politics increasingly trumps economics… and that is not a pun… In an uncertain world, it is all the more important that we continuously diversify supply sources to guarantee our national needs,” Jaishankar said.

“The United States, long the underwriter of the contemporary system, has set radically new terms of engagement. It is doing so by dealing with countries on a one-on-one basis,” he noted

He further said that China has “long played by its own rules”, and was doing so even now.

Jaishankar’s remarks come against the backdrop of trade tensions between New Delhi and Washington after US President Donald Trump levied 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods, including a 25% penalty over India’s purchase of Russian oil.

He then said that the other countries respond by hedging against all contingencies.

“Faced with such pulls and pressures of globalisation, of fragmentation and of supply insecurity, the rest of the world responds by hedging against all contingencies,” Jaishankar said.

He noted that a third of global production currently takes place in China which puts the spotlight on the “resilience and reliability” of supply chains.

“Conflicts and climate events have added to the possibility of that disruption.” Jaishankar said India’s gap with some of the more successful Asian economies is fast narrowing in terms of infrastructure – highways, railways, aviation, ports, energy and power.

“We are now moving ahead, by any standards,” he said, maintaining that the world is taking note of the advancements being made by India.

“… With these considerations in mind, we are today endeavouring to forge new trade arrangements and promote fresh connectivity initiatives,” the minister said.