The external affairs minister of India, S. Jaishankar, told attendees at an economic summit on Thursday that “the world is moving to an era of self-help” featuring “shortly supply chains and immediate neighbors,” responding to the imposition of sweeping global tariffs by America the day before.
President Donald Trump declared Wednesday “Liberation Day,” marking a new tariff policy that establishes a ten-percent “floor” reciprocal tariff on trade partners that impose tariffs on American goods.
Countries that impose large tariffs on American imports, effectively impeding success for American businesses in their markets, will now face much largest tariff barriers for their own goods in America.
In a chart published on Wednesday, the White House detailed the tariffs various countries impose on American products and what tariffs they would now face to enter the U.S. market. India, whose government has established significant interventionist policies to protect domestic industry, imposes a 52-percent tariff on American goods, according to the White House. In return, Indian goods will now have to pay a 26-percent tariff (Indian media, citing the Indian government, reported that the tariff is 27 percent).
While the 26-percent tariff is much higher than the previously non-existent tariff on Indian goods, it is much lower than what some other countries face. Among those most intensely affected are Vietnam, which imposes a 90-percent tariff and will now pay a 46-percent tariff; Cambodia, which imposes a 97-percent tariff and will pay a 49-percent tariff, and Madagascar, which will pay a 47-percent tariff and charges America a 93-percent tariff to enter its market.
The tariffs are expected to take effect on April 9.
“Times have indeed changed,” remarked Jaishankar on Thursday in remarks at a ministerial meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).
“The reality is that the world is moving to an era of self-help. Every region needs to look out for itself, whether it is in food, fuel and fertilizer supply, vaccines or speedy disaster response,” he continued. “We are seeing that unfold before our very eyes. Times have indeed changed. Shorter supply chains and immediate neighbours have a salience much more than before.”
“The era when a few powers underwrote the international system is now behind us,” Jaishankar declared. “What we make of our prospects is very much dependent on ourselves. As developing nations who face a multitude of challenges, that is better done in concert with each other than individually.”
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Jaishankar lamented that BIMSTEC countries – Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan, Thailand, and Sri Lanka – were “performing below [their] real potential” and encouraged them to be “more ambitious.”
“The new order, whose outlines have only now started to become visible, is intrinsically more regional and agenda-specific,” he asserted.
Jaishankar’s comments were separate from the official Indian government statement on the imposition of new tariffs on Indian imports to America. India’s Ministry of Commerce issued cautious remarks on Thursday in response to the tariff, assuring Indians that it was “carefully examining the implications” of the tariffs.
“The Department is engaged with all stakeholders, including Indian industry and exporters, taking feedback of their assessment of the tariffs and assessing the situation,” the ministry stated.
The Ministry of Commerce did not condemn the tariffs. Instead, it stated that its officials were “studying the opportunities that may arise due to this new development in the U.S. trade policy.”
President Trump has repeatedly identified India as one of several nations that has been “unfairly tariffing the United States for years.” Speaking on Tuesday in anticipation of “Liberation Day,” Trump predicting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who he has in the past referred to as a friend, would reduce India’s tariffs on America in the near future.
“I think I heard that India just a little while ago is going to be dropping its tariffs very substantially, and I said, ‘why didn’t somebody do this a long time ago?’” Trump said at a press conference. Trump made the remarks shortly after talks between American and Indian diplomats on trade in late March.
The Indian Ministry of Commerce announced after those talks that New Delhi and Washington were making progress to “broadly come to an understanding on the next steps towards a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), with the goal to finalize its first tranche by fall 2025.” The ministry indicated that the Trump administration was interested in “increasing market access, reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers and deepening supply chain integration.”
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Modi launched an economic program known as “Make in India” in 2014 intended to transform the world’s most populous state into a premier manufacturing hub by attracting multinational corporations to its factories. Doing so placed India in direct competition with its neighbor and rival China, whose economy has suffered tremendously following the brutal lockdowns imposed during the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.
India has successfully attracted some tech manufacturing from China, including deals with companies such as Apple and Foxconn, but has struggled to offer state-of-the-art factories, a competent workforce, and a peaceful industrial environment.
India has not shied away from challenging China by name, however.
“India’s relationship with major powers is good. China is an exception,” Jaishankar pointedly admitted in a 2023 interview. The foreign minister attributed the poor relationship not to trade, however, but to China’s repeated invasions of Indian territory across their mutual border.
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