‘India is not a dead economy’: Tharoor pushes back on Trump, advocates calm diplomacy
Tharoor struck a contrasting tone, warning that Trump’s decision to impose a 25% tariff on Indian goods and potentially much higher penalties tied to India’s trade with Russia posed a serious challenge, not validation, for India.
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Congress MP Shashi Tharoor publicly disagreed with Rahul Gandhi's endorsement of Donald Trump's controversial “dead economy” remark about India. While Gandhi seized Trump’s words to attack the Modi government, Tharoor took a more diplomatic route, defending India’s economic standing and urging strategic response to U.S. trade threats.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP made it clear that while there are economic challenges, calling India a “dead economy” was inaccurate and unhelpful.
The divergence comes just a day after Rahul Gandhi declared, “Yes, he (Trump) is right… Everybody knows that the Indian economy is a dead economy,” using the statement to criticize Modi’s economic record.
However, Tharoor struck a contrasting tone, warning that Trump’s decision to impose a 25% tariff on Indian goods and potentially much higher penalties tied to India’s trade with Russia posed a serious challenge, not validation, for India.
“It’s a very serious matter for us. There’s even talk of a 100% penalty, which will destroy our trade with America,” Tharoor cautioned. Yet, he remained optimistic about ongoing negotiations, urging support for Indian diplomats tasked with navigating the escalating trade dispute.
Tharoor pointed to the flexibility of India’s trade ecosystem. “We are not out of options,” he said, listing negotiations with the UK, EU, and others. “If America’s demands are unreasonable, we can diversify. That is the strength of India—we are not a completely export-dependent economy.”
He also offered a sober reminder that India’s average tariffs on American goods are not exceptionally high and blamed price competitiveness as a bigger barrier for U.S. exporters in India than policy.
