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Informist, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The US cannot be blamed for all the trade problems India is dealing with currently as there are other factors, such as trade deficits, that are also responsible, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said Monday. "We need to be sort of objective about where the problems are today for the trading sytem," he said at the Kautilya Economic Conclave here. "Look at it from India's point of view. I look at where we are running big deficits. It is not the deficit per se I have a problem (with). I have a problem on the deficit because it reflects a market constriction, a market access restriction."

 

Jaishankar's comments come at a time when several countries across the world, including India, are reeling under US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs on imports. Jaishankar highlighted that one cannot look at the global trading system seriously without the US. "It (the US) is such a major trading power and is the biggest economy," he said. "So, in many ways, the idea that a few countries come together and then try to fix the problem because US is a problem, I don't think that's a viable option."

 

Talking about India's role in the dialogue between Russia and Ukraine, the minister said it was important to have negotiations between the parties and it is an effort worth making. Sunday, Jaishankar, speaking at the Munich Leaders' Meeting in New Delhi, had said India had gone beyond its advocacy of the past few years and engaged in conversations with Moscow and Kyiv in recent months to end the war.

 

"...though we have been maintaining for some time that both parties should come to the table, and there were a number of conferences where countries gathered to express their support for peace, but often they would gather in the absence of Russia," he said. "And we always felt what is the point of having a gathering dealing with the Ukraine conflict where Russia is not there."

 

He also highlighted that nations of the Global South have an expectation that India will stand up for their rights and concerns. "We feel the obligation to include that in our policies," he said. 

 

Talking about the current state and future of the UN, he said the multilateral body has been largely irrelevant to global decision-making and is gridlocked. "If you look at the big issues of the day, whether you look at the conflict in the Gulf, whether you look at the conflict in Ukraine, whether you look at other issues in Africa, whether you look at COVID, actually the United Nations has been largely irrelevant to the decision-making," he said. 

 

However, he acknowledged that the world needs the UN and the body must be fixed. India has for decades been arguing that it deserves to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Currently, the Security Council has five permanent members--China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US. Each permanent member holds the power of veto over council resolutions.  End

 

Reported by Pratiksha and Shweta

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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