Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday asked the government to spell out India’s response to US President Donald Trump’s threat of tariff war, alleging that no discussion in Parliament or consultation with Opposition parties has been held over the matter.Initiating a discussion on The Appropriation (No. 3) Bill, 2025 and The Finance Bill, 2025 that were moved in Rajya Sabha for consideration by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, he cautioned that a tariff and trade war would lead to depressed exports, lower FDI, higher inflation and currency depreciation.
He said India must stand with saner voices in the world such as Canada, Britain, France, Germany and Japan and collectively do everything to prevent a tariff and trade war.
Referring to Trump’s statement that the US will impose tariffs from April 2, the former finance minister said,”What is the government’s response? What is India’s response? There has been no statement of policy, no discussion in Parliament, no consultation with Opposition parties. The government is holding its cards close to its chest, if it has any cards at all.”
Chidambaram further said,”A tariff war will lead to a trade war. The whole world will be hurt…”
He also alleged that Sitharaman had announced customs duty reduction on items including motor vehicles, passenger cars, goods, transport vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles and even toys in the Union Budget 2025-26 under the pressure from Trump.