"Tariffs, Export Controls Used For Strategic Purposes": PM's Principal Secretary

Tariffs, export controls, and other trade restrictions are increasingly being deployed for strategic purposes rather than only conventional commercial objectives, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister PK Mishra said on Saturday, warning that economic policy and geopolitical considerations are becoming more closely intertwined.

Delivering a keynote address at the 5th Kautilya Economic Conclave in New Delhi, Mishra said the changing nature of trade policy was adding to uncertainty for economies and policymakers.

“In the case of trade policy, tariffs, export controls, and other restrictions are increasingly being used not only for conventional commercial objectives, but also for strategic purposes,” Mishra said.

“The result is a world in which economic policy and geographical considerations are becoming more closely intertwined,” he added.
Mishra said the challenge for policymakers was not whether globalisation had ended, but how countries could retain the benefits of openness while reducing their exposure to concentrated and unpredictable shocks.

“The question before policymakers is therefore not whether globalisation has ended. It has not. The question is how we preserve the gains from openness while making economies less vulnerable to concentrated and unpredictable shocks,” he said.

He also pointed to developments in artificial intelligence as another source of uncertainty for the global economy.

“The recent developments in artificial intelligence are bringing about a new form of uncertainty. All this together creates a situation of great uncertainty,” Mishra said.

Speaking to the media after his address, Mishra said building resilience also carried an economic cost and policymakers needed to consider how much of that cost should be borne.

“I was speaking about resilience and that it cost also. It has a cost but how much cost we should pay,” he said.

Mishra said India had managed to navigate recent global disruptions while maintaining economic growth and macroeconomic stability.

“How India able to cope with all this and has been successfully faced pandemic, other crisis. So India has also maintained a high level of growth, maintained macroeconomic fundamentals,” he said.

Asked about the GDP growth number for the next quarter, Mishra declined to make a forecast.

“I cannot, I am not an astrologer to predict. So you will see when it is announced,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)