Staying on right side is a way to deal with trade weaponisation, says EAM Jaishankar

His remarks at the Raisina Dialogue came amid growing global concerns over US President Donald Trump's threat of imposing reciprocal tariffs on its partners and other nations.

New Delhi: Staying on the right of the weapon is a way to deal with the weaponisation of commerce, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday, with India seeking a trade deal with the United States despite being at the receiving end of President Donald Trump’s tariff tirade.

New Delhi also stressed an early end to the Russia-Ukraine conflicts with Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri saying that the Global South was asking the Global North that this conflict should end so that attention could be shifted towards resolving other pressing problems of humanity.

“Tariffs, sanctions, export controls -- whether we like it or not, they are a reality, countries use them,” Jaishankar said at the Raisina Dialogue 2025 in New Delhi. “If one looks at the last decade, we have seen a much greater weaponisation of pretty much any kind of capability or any kind of economic activity.”

He made the comment while speaking at a session titled “Commissars and Capitalists: Politics, Business and New World Order”. “There are different ways of dealing with weaponization. One is to stay on the right side of the weapon, so you don't get hit...The world today makes business decisions keeping national security in mind, in a way it did not happen earlier. In the digital era, I think it's not just about cost, it is about comfort, it is about trust”.

Trump repeatedly criticised India for imposing high tariffs on US exports over the past several weeks, just as he had been doing in his first term in the White House.

Trump hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House on February 13, and the two leaders agreed to negotiate a trade agreement. They set the target to conclude negotiations, at least for the first part of the agreement, by fall 2025. Trump, however, continued his rants on India’s high tariffs on exports from the US. While delivering an address to the American Congress on March 4, he announced that the US would impose reciprocal tariffs on imports from India and other countries from April 2.

India last month resumed its negotiations with the United Kingdom for a trade deal. Modi and the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen early this month set the target to conclude the protracted negotiation for the trade agreement by the end of the year.

“We are involved right now in three big trade negotiations with the EU, the UK and the United States. These are our growth markets. These are our technology partners... These are, in many ways, our connectivity partners. They are our strategic partners. So, when we make choices, it's no longer just efficiency and cost. I think there are non-economic factors, which I think increasingly influence business decisions,” Jaishankar said at the Raisina Dialogue 2025 – India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics hosted by the Observer Research Foundation and the Ministry of External Affairs.

“We should be doing many things, including engaging the Americans and engaging the Global South. Our effort is to maximise our options to increase our turnover, to improve our technology,” said Jaishankar.