'Go with China, join RCEP': Economist Jeffrey Sachs tells India as Trump's 50% tariff kicks in 

Amid escalating trade tensions with the United States, American economist Jeffrey Sachs has urged India to strengthen ties with emerging economies and consider joining regional trade blocs like RCEP. Sachs said that the Trump administration's tariffs are unlikely to succeed in pressuring India.

"He (Trump) is trying to arm-twist India, but he's not going to succeed. What he is succeeding in doing is uniting the BRICS countries, bringing India closer to Russia, to China, to Brazil, to other major economies in the world. He is isolating the United States from the world economy because these tariffs are making the US industry less competitive," Sachs said in an exclusive interview with India Today. 

"Maybe they'll produce more for the home market, but they'll be less competitive internationally. So, I think Trump is shooting - I won't say himself in the foot - he's shooting America in the foot. He's making it less prosperous and less competitive, but he is effectively uniting the rest of the world in closer relations."

Sachs dismissed suggestions that the US could bully India. "They (Trump team) thought that they could bully India, which is absurd. For the United States to think that it could bully a great power with 1.5 billion people, I could have told them no. But as I told many friends in India, don't trust the United States either. The US is not after a special relationship with India. The United States is shortsighted, poorly led, unstable - not the basis for India's long-term development."

He also offered guidance for India's economic strategy, emphasising diversification and stronger regional partnerships. "India needs to cultivate markets in the rest of the world. My own long-standing advice - which is sometimes in India raises eyebrows - is for India and China to settle the outstanding issues. I want the border disputes to be settled. I want China to support India as the sixth permanent member of the UN Security Council because the world really would benefit from that. And I want India and China to trade more and invest more mutually with each other."

Sachs highlighted RCEP as a key opportunity for India. "I'd love for India to join that because I think the combination of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia would be the world powerhouse for the economy for the next quarter century plus. So that seems to me to be something quite desirable as well." 

"I've long believed that India has so many things to offer Africa's development, and I believe that Africa, from a very low base, will be a fast-growing region of another 1.5 billion people - in the coming years. So diversification is a core part of the strategy. The BRICS is a very core part of that. India will have the presidency of the BRICS in 2026 and that's a very good thing."