'US risks shooting itself in the foot with tariffs on India': Richard Wolff blasts Trump's tactics
Richard Wolff, an American economist, has slammed US President Donald Trump for his economic stance against India and other nations, arguing that the BRICS nations-Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa-have now become the core of the global economy. He argued that the current US approach to international trade, particularly with its threats against India over Russian oil purchases, is pushing India into the arms of other nations in the BRICS group, leading to the development of an economic bloc that could rival the West.
“India is now, according to the United Nations, by population the largest country on earth, having outgrown China,” Wolff pointed out in an interview with Rick Sanchez, a prominent American journalist and radio host. He emphasised that if the US continues its aggressive tactics, like imposing tariffs on India, India would simply find new markets for its exports, moving away from the US and turning to the BRICS nations.”
The economist explained that Trump’s administration’s tactics could backfire. “If you shut off the United States to India by big tariffs, India will have to find other places to sell its exports. But like Russia found another place to sell its energy, India will sell its exports no longer to the United States, but to the rest of the BRICS,” Wolff stated.
He further suggested that the US was inadvertently helping to integrate BRICS into a more unified and successful economic force that will compete with Western powers. Wolff added, “We are watching a historic moment, but it will be, for those with some humor, it will be the spectacle of the United States acting like it’s the world’s tough guy, as what it actually does is shoot itself in the foot.”
When asked about Modi’s upcoming visit to China for the SCO Summit, Wolff discussed the historical tensions between Russia, China, and India, particularly regarding their uneasy relationships with one another. Yet, he noted that the current geopolitical climate has forced them into a partnership. “Nothing brings adversaries together than having a common enemy,” Wolff said, suggesting how the US’s economic warfare, through tariffs and sanctions, is pushing these countries closer together.
Wolff continued, “What those three countries are doing is reacting to the economic warfare imposed on them by the decisions of the United States. I mean, declaring an economic war is what Mr Trump did. A tariff against everybody. And now you can come and beg for me to make it a little higher, a little lower.” He stated that the US is no longer the hegemonic power it once was. Instead, it is a country “using whatever it can to survive and throwing away its allies, throwing away much of its history,” a behavior that Wolff believes will not end well and “it’s the behavior of a desperate society.”
Highlighting the importance of the emerging BRICS bloc, the American economist pointed out that while the G7 nations represent about 28% of the world’s total output, the BRICS countries now make up 35% of global output. “Russia, China, India, and the BRICS are now the rich, core of the world economy,” he said. He also flagged the population disparity, where the US holds just 4.5% of the world’s population, while China, India, and Russia alone represent nearly half of the global population.