Business & Economy

India Weighs Options to Work Around Trump’s Tariff Threats: Sources

20:36, 31 January 2025
© AP Photo / Lynne Sladky
Dhairya Maheshwari
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On Thursday, Trump reiterated his intention to impose 100% tariffs on imports from BRICS nations unless they drop plans to "replace" the US dollar with a common currency or any other.
Sputnik
India has begun an “exercise” on ways to navigate potentially disruptive spillovers in the wake of repeated threats of tariffs on Indian imports by US President Donald Trump, government sources told Sputnik India.

The review is being spearheaded by the Department of Commerce (DoC), according to the sources.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) echoed a previous statement by External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar, who had said that India is not in favour of “de-dollarisation” per se.

“All decisions taken in BRICS are based on consensus among member countries. As far as de-dollarisation is concerned, our External Affairs Minister has already made it clear that India isn’t pursuing any such strategy,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a weekly briefing in New Delhi on Friday.

India was continuing to pursue Indian Rupee (INR)-trading arrangements with different countries, Sources told Sputnik India, adding that these were not the same as calling for de-dollarisation.
Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran said on Friday that the Indian government had anticipated potential tariff-related disruptions while calculating Gross Domestic Product (GDP) projects. He announced the key highlights of the Economic Survey 2024-25, a pre-budget document which spells out government’s outlook on the state of the economy.

“It is very difficult to give you a quantitative estimation with respect to the impact of trade policies that may be pursued by other countries, because right now it is very hypothetical and speculative,” Nageswaran told a briefing in New Delhi, while reacting to the US President’s tariff threats against India.

“But, in general, what we have done is take into consideration the uncertainties posed by the current global environment, in terms of raising trade restrictions, raising investment restrictions. Therefore, the growth number that we have spelled out, that reflects the uncertainties which we have been broadly speaking about,” he emphasised.
The US ranks as India’s biggest trading partner and the largest export market, with bilateral trade reportedly amounting to around $190 billion in 2023.
Meanwhile, Russia has said that BRICS has never spoken about “creating a common currency”.

“BRICS is talking about creating new joint investment platforms that would allow joint investments in third countries, mutual investments and so on," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. "In all likelihood, US experts probably need to explain the BRICS agenda in more detail to Mr. Trump."

Sputnik Opinion
Trump Fears BRICS Might, Waves 100% Tariff Threats
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Business & EconomyDonald TrumpDmitry PeskovIndiaNew DelhiUSBRICSMinistry of External Affairs (MEA)Rupee-Rouble tradeGlobal SouthRussiawestern sanctionssanctionstrade barriersUnion BudgetS. Jaishankar
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