A roadmap for India to deal with Trump's tariffs

Keep talking to him. But fast-track other trade talks. Retaliate if he targets service exports. Plan for worst case impact on growth. Give domestic stimulus if exports take a big hit

Whether you are a friend, foe or somewhere in-between (India, for example), Trump has been a vitriolic equal opportunity offender. From Canada to Mexico to EU and Japan, there is no country that’s been spared this US president’s verbal lashes, suggesting that bullying is his way of getting the kind of trade and other deals he thinks America will benefit from.
Now it’s the turn of India to be at the wrong end of Trump’s verbal battery. On Wednesday, he announced a 25% tariff on Indian exports to US, plus some additional (unstated) penalties for buying Russian oil and defence equipment. A while later, he claimed he didn’t care about India and Russia: “They can take their dead economies down together.”