"Tariffs have completely shaken up world": Congress MP Shashi Tharoor

Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], April 9 (ANI): Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday said that the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration have completely shaken up the world and stated that India's main hope lies in very doing an effective negotiation with the Americans for a bilateral trade agreement.
He also expressed concern over the fallout of these tariffs on some countries.
On US tariffs, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor told ANI, "It's not only our share market... Our share market has gone down less than many other share markets. They're seeing a couple of trillion dollars lost in the American share market. 3% of our market went down, 9% of their market went down. It's a very dismaying situation. These tariffs have completely shaken up the world economy... It has created a lot of negative factors throughout the world. There are genuine fears that many countries may face a recession... From India's point of view, our main hope lies in very doing an effective negotiation with the Americans for a bilateral trade agreement... The situation is very unpredictable. Some people were drawing some hope from the fact that other countries who are our competitors, had even higher tariffs upon them than we did. But they are also negotiating now..."
Meanwhile, Union Minister Hardeep Puri on Tuesday said he was confident India will emerge stronger from the fallout of the US administration tariffs once the bilateral trade agreement between the two partner countries is finalised.
"I am confident that India will do very well under the very able and wise leader like Prime Minister and his team," he told reporters when asked to react to President Trump's reciprocal tariffs on trade partners.
Since assuming office for his second term, President Trump has reiterated his stance on tariff reciprocity, emphasising that the United States will match tariffs imposed by other countries, including India, to ensure fair trade. Faced with Trump's reciprocal tariffs, a few countries have, in retaliation, imposed additional tariffs on US goods, escalating trade tensions. India has, however, refrained from any such move as both countries are actively working on a trade pact.
"We will come out of this stronger than we are. Every challenge presents an opportunity, and India will take advantage of it," he supplemented.
Earlier, on Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held a discussion on US tariffs on India following President Donald Trump's announcement last week about imposing a 10 per cent tariff on all imports to the US, which had caused concerns in the global market. US has imposed 26 per cent tariffs on Indian imports.
The discussion was aimed at progressing towards a fair and balanced trade relationship, as stated by the US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce.
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to the US, leaders of both countries resolved to deepen the US-India trade relationship to promote growth that ensures fairness, national security, and job creation. To this end, the leaders set a bold new goal for bilateral trade--"Mission 500"--aiming to more than double total bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030.
Soon after, in early March, India's Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal was in the US. This followed Trump-Modi's plans to negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by the fall of 2025. The two leaders had committed to designating senior representatives to advance these negotiations.
Further, speaking about energy availability in global markets, Minister Hardeep Puri, who holds the petroleum portfolio, said there is ample crude oil available in the market.
Speaking of India, he said the country has, over the years, diversified its crude oil sourcing to as many as 40 countries. He also highlighted India's own exploration and production efforts to meet its energy demand. (ANI)