{"id":355391,"date":"2025-08-01T00:02:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T05:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=355391"},"modified":"2025-08-01T03:04:28","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T08:34:28","slug":"trump-tariff-sangh-urges-govt-to-stay-firm-protect-national-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/trump-tariff-sangh-urges-govt-to-stay-firm-protect-national-interest\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019 tariff\u2014Sangh urges Govt to \u2018stay firm, protect national interest\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2018If Washington believes that such coercive tactics can sway India\u2019s decisions, it must recognise that today\u2019s India is not the India of a decade ago,\u2019 says SJM<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It is time to stay firm and protect national Interest, RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) said while expressing \u201cdeep concern\u201d over US President Donald Trump\u2019s statement threatening \u201cunspecified penalties\u201d against India\u2019s trade ties with Russia, in addition to the already announced 25 percent tariff hike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIndia\u2019s sovereign right to procure defence equipment to strengthen self-reliance in defence production and to secure crude oil at the most competitive prices\u2014essential to keeping domestic inflation under check\u2014cannot be subjected to external pressure,\u201d said Ashwani Mahajan National, Co- Convener of the Manch<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahajan said if Washington believes that such coercive tactics can sway India\u2019s decisions, it must recognise that today\u2019s India is not the India of a decade ago. \u201cWe are emerging as a global power, demonstrated decisively during Operation Sindoor, and committed to building robust indigenous capabilities in arms production. The United States, too, needs to move beyond the inertia of a unipolar worldview and embrace the reality of a multipolar, cooperative order,\u201d he said<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SJM called it \u201cunfortunate\u201d that \u201cthe US has chosen to adopt punitive measures against a strategic partner at a time when the world must collectively respond to the far greater challenge posed by China\u2019s weaponisation of trade and global value chains\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe congratulate the Government of India for standing firm against pressure during the ongoing India\u2013US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations. Despite threats of reciprocal tariffs and the missed deadlines of July 9 and July 31, Indian negotiators have rightly resisted attempts to force open our markets to genetically modified (GM) agricultural products, dairy imports, and other sensitive sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is worth noting that the US continues to exert pressure on multiple countries to lower tariffs outside the framework of WTO rules, often invoking non-trade considerations under the guise of \u201creciprocity\u201d. The key sticking points in the current negotiations remain the US demand for market access for GM crops, deregulation of medical devices, and unrestricted cross-border data flows. India, on the other hand, has legitimately sought exemptions from steel, automobile, and pharmaceutical tariffs and defended its policy of data localisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIndia\u2019s principled stand\u2014that GM food imports threaten both our biodiversity and food security, and that sensitive data must remain within sovereign control\u2014is fully aligned with our long-term national interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhether or not a trade agreement is reached, Indian exports to the US will continue on the basis of mutual economic benefit. We must avoid concessions that undermine our farmers, small-scale industries, or long-term economic self-reliance. The experience of recent years has shown that India can leverage shifting global trade patterns\u2014including those resulting from US\u2013China tensions\u2014to its advantage without compromising core interests, Mahajan said<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that the SJM believes this is a moment to accelerate diversification of trade beyond traditional partners, deepening ties with Latin America, Africa, the expanded BRICS bloc, and the Global South. While the US remains India\u2019s largest trading partner, trade must always serve mutual benefit\u2014not be used as an instrument of pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Swadeshi Jagran Manch urges the Government of India to maintain its firm stance and to use this moment to strengthen strategic autonomy, protect national interest, and advance a truly multipolar and equitable global trade order, and make decisive moves towards \u2018Aatmanirbhar Bharat\u2019,\u201d he said<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018If Washington believes that such coercive tactics can sway India\u2019s decisions, it must recognise that today\u2019s India is not the India of a decade ago,\u2019 says SJM It is time to stay firm and protect national Interest, RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) said while expressing \u201cdeep concern\u201d over US President Donald Trump\u2019s statement threatening […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":355392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36],"tags":[20029,20019,17781],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355391"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":355393,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355391\/revisions\/355393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/355392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}