Global tremors

The US is undoubtedly a number one superpower. It is dangerous to the world, and the people, including those in the US, if it leads to its government's arrogance forgetting its founding principles of equality, fraternity, humanity, and world peace. It reminds us of the saying of Lord Acton, 'Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely'.

- P S M Rao The writer is a development economist and commentator on economic and social affairs

President Trump's actions cannot be brushed aside as inconsequential because they emanate from only one individual in one country. That one person is powerful enough to make the decisions most ruinous for humanity and the country he helms, the United States, is too big to ignore on the world stage.

Its geographical area is 9.53 million square kilometers. Although it is only 6.4 per cent of the world's total land area, it is three times as large as India, 40 times bigger than the UK, and 27 times bigger than Germany.

More important than this metric is its GDP's size. As per World Bank data, it was $27.72 trillion in current prices in 2023 against the world GDP of $106.17 trillion. That means this one country owns 26.10 per cent global GDP with a 4 per cent population share; the country's population of 331.45 million by 2020, is roughly equal to 24 per cent of India's.

Although China is second to the US, its $17.79 trillion GDP is nowhere near the riches of the US due to its four times bigger population than that of the US. The per capita GDP of China is $12,614 (with about 18 per cent global population share) against the US's $82,769.

There may be some countries that claim much higher per capita GDP but they are not at all comparable to the US economic might. For instance, Luxembourg with a 645,000 population and 2,586 square kilometers area has the highest per capita GDP of $125,897. But its total GDP is only $81.2 billion which is $40 billion less than Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's net wealth of about $120 billion.

Another notable fact is that the US dollar's share in world foreign exchange reserves is about 58 per cent: it was still higher at 70 per cent two decades back.