External affairs minister S. Jaishankar on Monday emphasized the imperative of stability and predictability in international trade and investment at a Brics meeting, in the wake of rising tariff tensions with the United States.
Referring to the potential posed by supply chain disruption, Jaishankar cautioned that the international approach must be to "proof it against such shocks," an oblique reference to the tariff policies pursued by former U.S. President Donald Trump.
"The World, as a collective, is seeking a stable and predictable environment for trade and investment. At the same time, it is imperative that economic practices are fair, transparent and to everyone's benefit. When there are multiple disruptions, our objective should be to proof it against such shocks. That means creating more resilient, reliable, redundant and shorter supply chains," Jaishanark said.
He also emphasized the need for diversifying industrial growth. "It's essential to democratise manufacturing and production and induce growth in alternate geographies," he stated, adding that it would also enhance regional self-reliance and alleviate insecurities during uncertain times.
Jaishankar also referred to the universality of trade-related topics in today's world discussion. He mentioned, "trade patterns and market access are prominent issues in the global economic discourse" and emphasized that "the world requires constructive and cooperative approaches to promote trade that is sustainable."
Taking a backhanded jab at Washington, the minister commented: "Increasing barriers and complicating transactions will not help. Neither would the linking of trade measures to non-trade matters."
"The Brics itself can set an example by reviewing trade flows among its member states. Where India is concerned some of our biggest deficits are with BRICS partners and we have been pressing for expeditious solutions. We hope this realisation will be part of the takeaways from today's meeting," he added.
Reiterating India's stance on the international trade regime, Jaishankar asserted that it has to be rooted in "open, fair, transparent, non-discriminatory, inclusive, equitable and rules-based" principles, along with safeguarding special treatment that developing economies are due.
"When shipping is targeted not only trade but livelihood suffers. A selective protection cannot be a global answer and an early end to the hostilities and undertaking diplomacy to ensure a durable solution is the obvious path before us," he said.
"The working of international organisations in the last few years has witnessed major shortfalls in many areas. On key issues, we unfortunately see that gridlocks have undermined the search for common ground. These experiences have only made the case for reform of multilateralism generally and that of the United Nations and its Security Council specifically more urgent," he said.
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