PM's China visit for SCO is not about any anti-West agenda

The White House should know that it is Trump's illogical actions, statements and weaponisation of tariffs that are forcing India to go back to Russia-India-China axis.

- ARVIND KUMAR & SESHADRI CHARI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-nation visit, to Japan and China, comes at a time when US President Donald Trump has declared a tariff war on the global economy, mainly targeting India citing a frivolous reason that India's oil purchase from Russia is the prime cause of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Laughable as it may sound, India needs to understand the economic and geopolitical fallout of the tariff war. While dealing with Trump's tariff missiles is an independent course that New Delhi will have to chart, PM Modi attending the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit to be held at Tianjin coinciding with his China visit after a gap of seven years, will be seen in connection with the ongoing tariff war.

Though SCO summits, like BRICS summits or those of G7 and G20, are regular and routine affairs, this year's summit in China assumes greater importance. The last BRICS summit held at Kazan, Russia, hit the headlines for its discussion on finding an alternative to US dollar as the currency for international trade settlements, ending up being labelled as the "de-dollarisation" summit. The SCO summit in China, coming at a time when major economies of member countries like India, China and Russia are facing Trump's tariff wrath, will be likely labelled as "anti-US forum", though India would be best advised to avoid being drawn into any such grouping.