125% TARIFFS LIKE, TRILLIONS AT STAKE: HOW THE US-CHINA TECH WAR COULD

The economic war of the century has begun—not with bombs or warships, but with spreadsheets, tariffs, and technology bans.

- PROF. NISHAKANT OJHA

And India may soon find itself in the blast radius.

In a stunning geopolitical move that sent shockwaves across boardrooms from Detroit to Shenzhen, the United States in early 2024 slapped an unprecedented 125% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs). The official rationale? National security. The real motive? A dramatic acceleration of a covert economic war between the world's two largest economies—one that could permanently fracture the global economy.

As the U.S. escalates this high-tech showdown to contain China's rise, the chaos it unleashes is now bleeding into global markets, dismantling alliances, and shattering long-held economic assumptions. And in the eye of this storm stands India—ambitious, rising, and uniquely vulnerable.

THE TARIFF HEARD AROUND THE WORLD The Biden administration's 125% tariff wasn't a trade policy—it was a message wrapped in steel. With China's EV exports surging and its dominance in battery tech solidifying, Washington decided it had seen enough. The U.S. move was a blunt-force policy weapon, aimed at decoupling American consumers from Chinese technology and halting China's growing global influence in clean tech.

But what Washington framed as "protecting American jobs" is really the economic equivalent of an arms race. Beijing's response? Aggressive hints at retaliatory bans on rare earths, pricing warfare in key commodities, and diplomatic snubs at Western forums. Welcome to the new battlefield: one fought not with tanks, but with algorithms, lithium, and leverage.

INDIA: THE GEOPOLITICAL MIDDLE CHILD CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE For India, this is both an opportunity and a nightmare. On paper, the West's pivot away from China creates space for India to become the next big manufacturing destination. But reality is never that simple.