Congress leader P Chidambaram said there has been no discussion in the parliament or consultation with Opposition parties on US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. He gives an example of a case in which, if Trump picks India, the economy will head towards ruin. Chidambaram said it is important for countries to band together to push back US’ tariffs.
In an interview with NDTV, Chidambaram said it is imperative to have alternative scenarios. “What if they take one step forward? What is our response? What if they take two steps backward? What is our response? And that response need not be made public to the whole world, but at least there must be a statement in parliament, or there must be a consultation with opposition parties. We are completely in the dark,” he said. The Congress leader said, as per his information, “most ministers are in the dark”.
He questioned who is involved in making such reactive policies for India. “I don’t know. Nobody seems to know,” he said.
Chidambaram’s remarks come ahead of the US’ imposition of 25 per cent tariff on all auto imports. While India is not a big exporter of automobiles, ancillary firms may take a big hit as they export largely to the US.
The Congress leader criticised the government for making “impromptu, unilateral, knee-jerk decisions” such as getting rid of the 2 per cent tax in the Budget, removing ‘Google tax’ or the 6 per cent imposition of digital service tax.
Chidambaram said the government is going to concede to Trump’s demands. He said if the government does not wish to have a public discussion then they should at least invite the principal opposition parties which are represented in the parliament to work out alternative scenarios.
“I think at the moment, only the external affairs minister and perhaps the commerce minister who went on a delegation to the US are privy to what is going on,” he said in the interview, adding that the agriculture minister and industries minister might know but no one is sure if they are making concessions on agriculture or industrial goods or intellectual property.
He added that India should put its interest first but many countries are finding common ground in acknowledging that the unilateral tariffs imposed by the US are unacceptable. Chidambaram said there are a myriad of rules preventing sweeping changes including WTO rules, multilateral and bilateral agreements, international laws etc.
“We must band together with countries which are in the world market for agricultural exports, textile exports, and industrial goods exports, and evolve a common approach. You see, if he (Donald Trump) picks one country at a time, and imposes tariffs, it will ruin the economy of that country. Suppose he picks India, and he leaves other countries out. Suppose President Trump picks India and says, these are the tariffs from goods exported from India, we’ll be ruined. In a matter of three to six months, our economy will be ruined,” he said in the interview.
Chidambaram said it is important to take action to forestall such picking and choosing and imposing tariffs.