'Trump tariffs were a threat and India, rightly, did not succumb to it': Jeffrey Sachs

Economist Jeffrey Sachs has hailed India for not falling into US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats, saying that he is “not a very logical or strategic person”.

Trump imposed a 50 per cent tariff on India over its import of Russian oil, saying that New Delhi doesn’t “care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine”.

Reacting to Trump’s actions against India, Sachs told News18, “Trump does things impulsively. He thought that India would immediately agree to the demands that he made and say, ‘We will not buy Russian oil.’ This was a threat and India rightly did not succumb to it.”

He added that the US president’s actions were “not a well-thought-out strategy”. The economist added that India “should not trust” the US as its main partner.

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When asked why the US president targeted New Delhi and not China, which is the bigger Russian crude oil buyer than India, Sachs said, “Well, he tried to punish China - but China retaliated immediately. It cut off exports of rare earths and rare earth magnets and other components vital for US industry. This is not a matter of principle. This is a matter of threats. This is a matter of what Trump decides to do impulsively, what he thinks he can get away with. So if you’re looking for consistency, you’re certainly looking in the wrong place. It’s not going to come from the US.”

Sachs further said that under Trump, the US foreign policy has become impulsive as the country tries to reestablish its dominance, as it keeps losing power in a largely multipolar world today.

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“Trump is not a strategist. He’s not a logical thinker. He’s not a consistent or far-sighted thinker. American foreign policy right now is impulsive. It’s short-term. It doesn’t work. Trump thinks that he has all the cards vis-a-vis any other country. So he thinks that the great prize of the US market, which is not so dominant nor is it so important for India, gives him the leverage to make whatever demands he wants,” the economist said.