Don't Judge India Performance By Trump's Behaviour: Shashi Tharoor Slams US President

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday said the tariffs imposed by the US have impacted India with people already losing jobs.

He did not mince words and slammed US President Donald Trump for being "mercurial" in nature and not honouring conventional standards of diplomatic behaviour.

At a conference organised by CREDAI, India's apex industry body for the real estate sector, Tharoor said, "Mr Trump is a very mercurial individual, and the American system gives the President an amazing amount of leeway."

Tharoor was replying to a query related to Indo-US relationship and imposition of tariffs. Continuing with his opinion about Trump, Tharoor said, "Even though there have been 44 or 45 presidents before him, no one has ever seen this kind of behaviour coming down from the White House."

Tharoor said that Trump is 'unusual president' by every yardstick who does not honour the conventional standards of diplomatic behaviour.

"I mean, have you ever heard any world leader openly saying that he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize. It never happened before. Have you heard of any world leader saying things like, ‘oh, all the countries in the world want to come and kiss my ass," Tharoor said in his characteristic style.

Tharoor had strong words on the kind of language Trump uses. He said, "Have you heard of any world leader who has basically said, India and Russia have dead economies. I don't care if they go down the drain together," adding that this was not the kind of language being ever heard from any head of government.

"So Trump is unusual, and I would beg you not to judge our performance by his behaviour," the Congress leader said.

Tharoor said about 1.35 lakh people have lost jobs in the gems and jewellery business in Surat and in the seafood and manufacturing sectors.

Tharoor said, "Already, people are losing jobs. 1.35 lakh people in Surat have been laid off in the gems and jewellery business," he said, adding that there are potential job losses in seafood and manufacturing sector.

Tharoor said the exports of many products became unviable because of the initial 25% tariff and the additional penalty of 25% has made it virtually impossible to enter US market with Indian competitors having lower tariffs.

However Tharoor expressed optimism with the possibilities of reduction in the initial basic 25% tariff imposed by the US. "We are finding it very difficult to get into the American market. And I am pleased to say that we are actually negotiating knowing very well that we need some access to America."

Tharoor said the US should have uniform policy for every country which buys oil from Russia. "This entire sanction policy seems to be completely bizarre and unsustainable. But, anyway, until that sanction is removed, however successfully we negotiate a basic trade deal, we still have an enormous problem," he observed.

More than 1,000 delegates, including real estate developers and consultants, are attending a three-day conference CREDAI-NATCON in Singapore.