Sanjay Parate
No matter how much Prime Minister Narendra Modi may boast about his friendship with Trump, Trump's tariff war with India is the reality. Stories of friendship have become a farce. How deadly this war is can be gauged from the fact that turmoil has started in the Indian market and on the very first day of imposing tariff, the Sensex has fallen by 849 points and investors have suffered a loss of Rs 5.41 lakh crore and the capitalization of all the companies listed on the BSE has come down to Rs 449.45 lakh crore. Its biggest impact is going to be on textile factories, which have either announced closure of their factories or have suddenly reduced their production and due to which thousands of workers have come on the road. This is just the beginning, in future the number of unemployed workers includind textile sector is going to reach millions.
According to the initial estimates, India's exports are going to suffer a loss of $48 billion due to Trump's tariffs. Indian exports to the US in the financial year 2024 were US $77.5 billion. This means that now Indian exports to the US are going to decrease by 62% and the balance between India-US trade will shift in favor of the US. The list of goods exported from India to the US includes items like lobsters, organic chemicals, textiles, diamond and gold jewelry, electrical and mechanical machinery, leather and slippers, furniture and beds etc. From yesterday itself, more than 50 percent tariff has started being imposed on them. For example, now there is a 60% tariff on shrimp exports, 53% on carpets, 59% on clothes, 52% on diamond and gold items. Such a high tariff means that now Indian goods will become extremely expensive in the American market and their demand will decrease. The fall in demand for Indian products in the American market means the closure of factories in India engaged in the production of these products and further increase in the already high unemployment here, which means a sharp fall in the purchasing power of the workers engaged in these industries in particular and the Indian public in general and the economy again getting trapped in recession.
To avoid the ill-effects of this tariff war, the Modi government has nothing to do except talk. It has once again given the worn-out slogan of 'adopting Swadeshi'. 'Worthy' because it cannot take our country out of the problem of recession. 'Made in India' has already been replaced by 'Make in India' and Swadeshi has been shown the way out. The way the Modi government, which runs on the mantra of liberalization, has opened the doors of the country's economy to foreign capital, due to which a part of foreign capital has entered in every unit cost of every unit of production, which is engaged in earning profit by selling the goods. Because of this foreign capital, nothing Swadeshi is left now. Foreign capital has entered even in the names of the goods which we see as Swadeshi in our country.
Second thing. Due to the policies of corporate loot promoted by this government, the purchasing power of the common man has fallen drastically. Now Swadeshi is not attractive to them because it is expensive and foreign goods are cheap. Due to their low purchasing power, they are forced to buy cheap foreign goods and the mathematics of stomach worship outweighs the slogan of Swadeshi. From tomorrow, see how many Sanghi-BJP leaders are seen laden with Swadeshi! Then what will they say to the common man?
During the financial year 2024-25, India had exported goods worth about $821 billion to the whole world. Due to US tariffs, this export is going to fall by 6% directly, if the US ban does not affect India's exports to other countries. But this is an optimistic assessment, which is likely to be wrong because Trump is fighting this war against the whole world, due to which the whole world will enter a new phase of economic recession and exports from India to other countries will also be affected.
On one hand, the government is making empty declarations that it will protect the interests of Indian farmers from Trump's tariff attack, while on the other hand it has reduced the import duty on cotton by 11%. This decision has clearly been taken under US pressure and will not only flood the Indian markets with foreign cotton but will also lead to further fall in cotton prices. Indian farmers are already deprived of remunerative support prices and cotton growers are incurring a loss of Rs 2365 per quintal from the C-2 based MSP. Since the decision to reduce import duty on cotton, cotton prices have already fallen by Rs 1100 per quintal. This fall will break the back of cotton farmers and force them to commit suicide. This case shows that as Trump twists India's arm, the Modi government is kneeling down and its attitude is not reassuring for farmers.
This year, the Sanghi gang's slogan of boycotting Chinese lights during Dussehra-Diwali will hardly be heard. To avoid Trump's tariff attack, Modi has again decided to swing with the Chinese President. He cannot leave Russia because of cheap petrol. The way the Modi government has Hinduised India's foreign policy, it has no other way left to get out of this crisis. Now it will walk on two crutches outside the country : Russia and China, just like it is standing on two crutches inside the country : Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar. This was the fate of the pseudo-nationalism of the Sanghi gang!!
The author is an independent writer on politics, social and agrarian issues. The views are personal.
According to the initial estimates, India's exports are going to suffer a loss of $48 billion due to Trump's tariffs. Indian exports to the US in the financial year 2024 were US $77.5 billion. This means that now Indian exports to the US are going to decrease by 62% and the balance between India-US trade will shift in favor of the US. The list of goods exported from India to the US includes items like lobsters, organic chemicals, textiles, diamond and gold jewelry, electrical and mechanical machinery, leather and slippers, furniture and beds etc. From yesterday itself, more than 50 percent tariff has started being imposed on them. For example, now there is a 60% tariff on shrimp exports, 53% on carpets, 59% on clothes, 52% on diamond and gold items. Such a high tariff means that now Indian goods will become extremely expensive in the American market and their demand will decrease. The fall in demand for Indian products in the American market means the closure of factories in India engaged in the production of these products and further increase in the already high unemployment here, which means a sharp fall in the purchasing power of the workers engaged in these industries in particular and the Indian public in general and the economy again getting trapped in recession.
To avoid the ill-effects of this tariff war, the Modi government has nothing to do except talk. It has once again given the worn-out slogan of 'adopting Swadeshi'. 'Worthy' because it cannot take our country out of the problem of recession. 'Made in India' has already been replaced by 'Make in India' and Swadeshi has been shown the way out. The way the Modi government, which runs on the mantra of liberalization, has opened the doors of the country's economy to foreign capital, due to which a part of foreign capital has entered in every unit cost of every unit of production, which is engaged in earning profit by selling the goods. Because of this foreign capital, nothing Swadeshi is left now. Foreign capital has entered even in the names of the goods which we see as Swadeshi in our country.
Second thing. Due to the policies of corporate loot promoted by this government, the purchasing power of the common man has fallen drastically. Now Swadeshi is not attractive to them because it is expensive and foreign goods are cheap. Due to their low purchasing power, they are forced to buy cheap foreign goods and the mathematics of stomach worship outweighs the slogan of Swadeshi. From tomorrow, see how many Sanghi-BJP leaders are seen laden with Swadeshi! Then what will they say to the common man?
During the financial year 2024-25, India had exported goods worth about $821 billion to the whole world. Due to US tariffs, this export is going to fall by 6% directly, if the US ban does not affect India's exports to other countries. But this is an optimistic assessment, which is likely to be wrong because Trump is fighting this war against the whole world, due to which the whole world will enter a new phase of economic recession and exports from India to other countries will also be affected.
On one hand, the government is making empty declarations that it will protect the interests of Indian farmers from Trump's tariff attack, while on the other hand it has reduced the import duty on cotton by 11%. This decision has clearly been taken under US pressure and will not only flood the Indian markets with foreign cotton but will also lead to further fall in cotton prices. Indian farmers are already deprived of remunerative support prices and cotton growers are incurring a loss of Rs 2365 per quintal from the C-2 based MSP. Since the decision to reduce import duty on cotton, cotton prices have already fallen by Rs 1100 per quintal. This fall will break the back of cotton farmers and force them to commit suicide. This case shows that as Trump twists India's arm, the Modi government is kneeling down and its attitude is not reassuring for farmers.
This year, the Sanghi gang's slogan of boycotting Chinese lights during Dussehra-Diwali will hardly be heard. To avoid Trump's tariff attack, Modi has again decided to swing with the Chinese President. He cannot leave Russia because of cheap petrol. The way the Modi government has Hinduised India's foreign policy, it has no other way left to get out of this crisis. Now it will walk on two crutches outside the country : Russia and China, just like it is standing on two crutches inside the country : Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar. This was the fate of the pseudo-nationalism of the Sanghi gang!!
The author is an independent writer on politics, social and agrarian issues. The views are personal.
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