Politics increasingly trumps economics in present era, says Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday (November 29, 2025) said politics increasingly “trumps” economics in the present era.

Mr. Jaishankar was addressing a gathering after being conferred Honorary Doctorate by IIM-Calcutta at its campus in Kolkata.

“This is an era where politics increasingly trumps economics… and that is not a pun,” he said.

“The United States, long the underwriter of the contemporary system, has set radically new terms of engagement. It is doing so by dealing with countries on a one-on-one basis,” Mr. Jaishankar said.

He also said that China has “long played by its own rules”, and is doing so even now.

The External Affairs Minister said in the ensuing scenario, other nations are unclear whether attention should be on visible competition or the trade offs and understandings that punctuate it.

“Faced with such pulls and pressures of globalisation, of fragmentation and of supply insecurity, the rest of the world responds by hedging against all contingencies,” Mr. Jaishankar said.

He said India has been actively pursuing self-reliance and making itself a manufacturing base for industries.

“India has been making exponential advancements in infrastructure as well as in latest scientific developments,” he added.