EAM Jaishankar tells Trump no interest in weakening US dollar following latter's tariff threats on BRICS

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Dec 7 responded to United States President-elect Donald Trump's warning of imposing 100 % tariffs on Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — BRICS nations — saying that India has ‘no interest’ in weakening the US dollar.

At the Doha Forum, Jaishankar spoke positively about India's relationship with the first Trump administration. He referred to the revival of the Quad during Trump's presidency as an important step in strengthening regional cooperation.

“We had a strong and solid relationship with the first Trump administration. Yes, there were some issues mostly trade-related, but there were a whole lot of issues on which actually President Trump was forward-leaning. And I remind people that it was under Trump that the Quad was restarted,” said Jaishankar.

Modi-Trump bond strengthens India-US ties

Jaishankar also said the strong personal relationship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President-elect Trump has helped strengthen the ties between India and the United States.

“If you look at the Indo-Pacific today, it is an area where the United States made new commitments… I would say from our perspective there is a certain personal relationship between Prime Minister Modi and President Trump. In terms of politics, we really don't have divisive issues,” he said.

He also clarified that while BRICS discusses financial transactions, India has no interest in weakening the US dollar, given that the US remains India's largest trade partner.

"Where the BRICS remark was concerned… I exactly not show what was the trigger for it. We have also said that India has never been for de-dollarization. Right now, there is no proposal to have a BRICS currency… BRICS do discuss financial transactions.. The United States is our largest trade partner and we have no interest in weakening the dollar at all,” he said.

Impact on India’s trade

Jaishankar mentioned that instability in West Asia is affecting India, particularly in trade and shipping costs.

“We still have about half a million Indians who live in Mediterranean countries. We have a trade of about $80 billion with the Mediterranean...There is a larger regional instability which is actually growing month on month. It is impacting. As a country on that side of Asia, we are feeling the impact of this," he said.

"We're feeling it in shipping costs. We're feeling trade disruptions. We could see it in radicalization. Today, instability anywhere actually is a source of concern. There's no region you can say that's far away and it doesn't matter to me anymore,” he added.

Negotiations in Russia-Ukraine war

Jaishankar said that there is a growing shift towards negotiations in the Russia-Ukraine war with European leaders urging continued engagement with both Russia and Ukraine.

However, he expressed optimism about the situation moving towards dialogue.

“The general sort of needle is moving more towards the reality of a negotiation than the continuation of the war. In the last few weeks and months, I've even seen this sentiment expressed by major European leaders, who are actually telling us to please keep engaging Russia and engaging Ukraine. We welcome that. So we do think that things are moving somewhere in that direction,” he said.