‘Explains Trump’s desperate attempt’: Brahma Chellaney on India, China contributing 43.6% of global growth

US President Donald Trump’s “desperate”, albeit belated, attempts to arrest India and China’s rapid rise can be now more clearly explained with the data that shows that both the Asian nations contribute nearly half of the global growth.

“Data from the International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook point to more than a routine rebalancing of growth. They suggest a structural shift in economic gravity away from the Atlantic world and back toward Asia – closer to the global distribution that prevailed before European colonial dominance. For centuries, India and China together accounted for more than half of global output. That historical pattern, long interrupted, is reasserting itself,” he said.

The IMF data shows that China contributes 26.6 per cent to global GDP, followed by India with 17 per cent. The US is a distant third with 9.9 per cent. The data shows that Asia-Pacific contributes around 50 per cent of the global GDP. 

“The world economy is not just growing faster in Asia; it is increasingly being shaped there,” said the geostrategist. “This rebalancing helps explain Trump’s desperate, if belated, attempt to arrest the trend by weaponising trade and US market access, extracting concessions even from allies through the threat of economic harm,” said Chellaney. 

The original post depicting the data was also shared by Elon Musk, garnering further attention. Musk said the balance of power is changing.

In fact, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman cited Musk’s tweet at the Youth Dialogue on Union Budget 2026. “But India's opposition should also understand that this is the kind of strength that India has acquired now. Next only to China, the gap may be big, 26 and 17, but we'll bridge it. But we should have the confidence that, together with a big economy, which is just next door, we contribute 43% of global GDP growth. And we are living in that India,” she said.

Union minister Kiren Rijiju also took a jibe at Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and asked him not to "disparage" the nation while criticising the government.