How BRICS Gives India Strategic Options

B S Dara bsdara@gmail.com Trade in today’s world is no longer a neutral economic tool. It has become a strategic weapon. Washington has increasingly used tariffs to advance political goals, including against partners it publicly calls allies. India experienced this first hand in 2019 when the United States removed it from the Generalized System of Preferences, a program that had allowed duty-free access for nearly $6.3 billion worth of Indian exports, affecting sectors such as leather, engineering goods and textiles. The Indian Commerce Ministry estimated the direct annual loss to exporters at around $190 million. The move was framed as…