External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said that for now he doesn’t know about the impact of reciprocal tariffs imposed by the US on several countries, including India.
Jaishankar, who shared a video of his conversation with a private broadcaster, replying to a question on the impact of reciprocal tariffs on India and the strategy to deal with its fallout, said, “It is not possible to speak about what would be the impact because we don’t know.”
He added, “From the Indian perspective, we are working out something bilaterally with the US. It is something which has long been our objective.” The minister also talked about India’s relations with China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Canada.
On China, the minister acknowledged the strain in relations between India and China during the four years from 2020.
“It is obviously better than what it was in the recent past. Disengagement, particularly in Depsang and Demchok, was important. We are now addressing to some extent the issues on the border because there has been a force buildup over a period of years. There were many other things which also happened during this period. Some of it was a collateral of the situation, some it was actually a carryover from the Covid era. For example, our direct flights stopped during Covid, they were not resumed. Kailash Mansarovar Yatra stopped during Covid; it did not resume again. There is work to be done, and we are at it.”
On the progress in mending ties with China, the minister said, “We have always maintained that the situation which we saw between 2020 and 2024 was not in the interest of either country. It was not in the interest of our relationship. There is a recognition of that now.”
