The latest round of retaliatory tariffs by US President Donald Trump has sent the global stock market into a tailspin, including the Indian benchmark indices. This move by Trump reminds Nilesh Shah, Managing Director at Kotak AMC of Sant Tulsidas, who centuries ago wrote, “Samrath ko nahi dosh gosain” – meaning that the strong can do as they please, and no one can blame them, highlighting the leeway powerful nations like the United States can take.
Elaborating his argument, Shah in a post on social media platform X said, “WTO is meant for weak nations. Strong nations can do what they want. They can even calculate tariffs as a deficit with the USA divided by exports to the USA and get away with it. We will soon see a case study to justify this novel definition.”
Organisations like the World Trade Organization (WTO) are designed to serve the interests of weaker nations, but countries like the US don’t seem to be bound by their norms.
