Sharp Take : Shashi Tharoor Speaks On The Impact Of US Tarrifs And US President Donald Trump’s Mercurial Nature

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Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has said the tariffs imposed by the United States has impacted India with people already losing jobs, even as he lashed out at American President Donald Trump for being ‘mercurial’ in nature and not honouring conventional standards of diplomatic behaviour.

US has imposed a 50 per cent tariff, including 25 per cent as penalty for buying Russian oil, on shipments from India.

India needs to diversify export markets to mitigate the impact of tariffs, Tharoor said, adding that 1.35 lakh people have lost jobs in gems and jewelery business in Surat and in seafood and manufacturing sectors.

“Mr Trump is a very mercurial individual, and the American system gives the President an amazing amount of leeway,” Tharoor said while replying to a query related to Indo-US relationship and imposition of tariffs, at a conference organised by CREDAI, India’s apex industry body for real estate sector.

Continuing with his opinion about Trump, Tharoor said, “Even though there have been 44 or 45 presidents before him, no one has ever seen this kind of behaviour coming down from the White House.”

The Congress leader described Trump as an ‘unusual president’ by every yardstick and said the US President certainly does not honour the conventional standards of diplomatic behaviour.

“I mean, have you ever heard any world leader openly saying that he deserves a Noble peace prize. It never happened before. Have you heard of any world leader saying things like, ‘oh, all the countries in the world want to come and kiss my ass’,” Tharoor said.

“Have you heard of any world leader who has basically said, India and Russia have dead economies. I don’t care if they go down the drain together,” he said, adding that this was not the kind of language being ever heard from any head of government.

“So Trump is unusual, and I would beg you not to judge our performance by his behaviour,” the Congress leader said.

On the impact of tariff, Tharoor said the truth is that the tariffs have had a very very negative impact on India.