India Was the Economic Alternative to China. Trump Ended That
Posted4 months agoActive4 months ago
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The NYT article argues that Trump's tariffs ended India's potential as an economic alternative to China, sparking debate among commenters about India's economic viability and the West's diversification strategies.
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Sep 1, 2025 at 11:16 PM EDT
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Discussion (2 comments)
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thisislife2
4 months ago
I am an Indian and I disagree with the whole premise of the article - for the west, India was never the alternative to China. China was a unique capitalist experiment that failed as it was never meant to make it a rival to the west. They will not make the same mistake with India, and that is why you see the west diversifying their supply chain throughout Asia (and not just India). Then there is Trump (and perhaps the Republicans) who does perhaps believe that if American labour becomes a bit cheaper (i.e. the US has more poor people), it could be possible to somewhat move back some production to the US too. That is why his economic policies will temporarily make life harder for the poor and maybe even the middle-class, as his government seeks to create this cheaper American labour pool. It's going to be interesting times for the world, especially for democracies, as they try to figure out how to make manufacturing more viable in democracies without labour exploitation or sacrificing labour rights at the altar of capitalism. Trump's tariff policies are also directed towards this effort (if imported products become costlier, it makes domestic products more competitive in the market).
sleepyguy
4 months ago
Good, they are compromising with evil and funding Putin's war against Ukraine. India is not an economic alternative to anything; it could never do what China does.
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