Dead economy? India growing twice as fast as US: William Dalrymple schools Trump

Scottish historian and India chronicler William Dalrymple has countered US President Donald Trump's claim that India is a "dead economy", pointing to growth figures that show India outpacing the United States. "In actual fact India's economy, far from being dead, grew twice as fast as that of the US last year, and is forecast to grow at three times the US rate this year," Dalrymple said on Thursday.

His comments came after Trump said India and Russia could "take their dead economies down together," while announcing fresh trade penalties on New Delhi.

The International Monetary Fund's latest World Economic Outlook supports Dalrymple's rebuttal. India's economy is projected to grow at 6.4% in both 2025 and 2026, while the US is expected to grow at 1.9% and 2%, respectively. In calendar year terms, India is expected to clock 6.7% growth in 2025.

"We have actually quite stable growth,” said Deniz Igan, Division Chief at the IMF's Research Department, during a recent press briefing. The revised Indian projections mark a 0.2 percentage point increase for 2025 and a 0.1 percentage point increase for 2026 from the April update. 

In contrast, the global economy is projected to grow at 3.0% in 2025, with advanced economies including the US forecast to remain below 2%. China is expected to grow at 4.8%.

On Wednesday, Trump announced a 25% tariff on all Indian goods starting August 1, along with an unspecified penalty for buying Russian crude oil and military equipment. "India has the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary trade barriers of any country," Trump said, calling India's tariffs "among the highest in the world."

He further claimed: "We have done very little business with India... They sell a lot to us, but we don’t buy from them… Because the tariff is so high."

Trump also criticised India's role in BRICS, saying: "BRICS, which is basically a group of countries that are anti the United States and India is a member of that... It is an attack on the dollar and we are not going to let anybody attack the dollar."

India is the largest buyer of Russian oil after China, with imports rising from 0.2% of total crude purchases before the Ukraine war to 35–40% today.