New Delhi: Amid US President Donald Trump’s tariffs threats on India, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said today that it is the prerogative of countries to make their decisions and India has to factor them in while making its calculations.
Speaking at a session ‘Commisars and Capitalists: Politics, Business, and New World Order’ at the Raisina Dialogue, EAM Jaishankar said while elaborating on the issue of tariffs, sanctions and export control:
“Whether we like it or not they are a reality. countries use them. If we see the last decade we see a much greater weaponisation of pretty much any kind of capability, any kind of economic activity, it could be financial flows, or energy supplies, it could be technology. This is a reality of the world.
“So we have to negotiate our way through that and see how best we can do for our own country….
“I think today the lines dividing different domains have eroded, and overall if you see in international relations I think it’s a less restrained culture today than it was a decade ago, and that’s something we need to factor in.
“I won’t say it bothers me as I have seen its evolution, I just accept it as part of the playing conditions, so it’s part of the assumptions, part of the challenge and I would deal with it, and ideally also leverage it where I can.”
To a direct question on the US tariffs, he said:
“Different countries will make decisions, that is their prerogative; we have to factor it in while making our calculations. I can’t tell some other country that don’t do this because it is not convenient to me; that’s their call not mine.”
On the subject of weaponisation of things meant for social good, like Swift, social media, telecom, he said:
“There are different ways of dealing with the weaponisation, and one has to stay on the right side of the weapon, so you don’t get hit, others do,” he said with a smile.
“The reality today is that the world today makes business decisions factoring in national security, in a manner in which it did not do so before.
“Especially in the digital era it’s not just about cost it is about comfort, it is about trust. So if you are today looking, at the strategic level, at a business conversation you keep hearing resilience, reliability, trust, transparency. So, you want to do business more and more with those with whom you are secure.”
“And you would rather take the risks with those with whom your interests are not contradictory, and the risks are not that great, rather than with those with whom your interests could clash or do clash,” he added.
He also said that India is today involved in three big trade negotiations, with the EU, the UK and the USA.
“These are our growth markets, these are our technology partners. This is where people go for education, for tourism. These are in many ways our connectivity partners, our strategic partners. So when we make choices it is no longer just efficiency and cost, there are non-economic factors which increasingly influence business decisions,” he said.
