Tantrums Trigger Global Solidarity

Trump's tariff flare-ups may be naive, but they have inadvertently brought rivals together to question US dominance and tyranny

- SACHIN SRIDHAR

The balance of global economic power is shifting more decisively than many in the West would care to admit. According to the United States' own CIA World Factbook, America's GDP on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis stood at $25 trillion in 2023. By contrast, just three members of the BRICS grouping—China, India and Russia—collectively produced $50.3 trillion, twice the size of the US economy. PPP, which adjusts for differences in living costs, offers a truer picture of real economic strength than raw exchange rates. On this measure, China alone, with $31.2 trillion, has already outpaced the United States by a quarter. Taken together, BRICS economies are not only larger than the US but, by several estimates, already surpass the combined weight of the G7 bloc.

Additionally, both China and India are growing much faster than the US. An E&Y report says that, surpassing the USA, with a $34.2 trillion GDP, India may emerge as the second-largest economy in the world by 2038. In most BRICS countries, elite economic thinking is still dominated by the Western view of the world, and many of the policymakers, planners, and economists are US-educated. So, as an unfortunate reflex action, the tendency at times is to adopt the Western worldview, often disregarding the size, dynamism, heft, and growth of the economy back home.